Frayed
by Lucy Alyce
Summary: Revenge is sweet. A/J. Post-BD. "Even though his mind was screaming at him to be alert, to defend Alice if necessary, he couldn't convince himself to take the thoughts seriously. He didn't care. And it was because of Raoul manipulating him."
1. Sweet Sixteen

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**Takes place Post Breaking Dawn, as you'll find out when you read.**

**The idea I have has most likely been explored before, but I'm putting a personal touch/twist on it and working to make it the best I can. I'm taking it slow, so please bear with me. All feedback/constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated. Don't hold back in telling me how you're liking it! Keep in mind, this is just the start...**

**And without further delay...enjoy & review please!**

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_And what do I see...? The only thing that gets me through this is what I feel--and I feel you._--3 doors down.

"You're sure you don't want to come?" Jasper asked her one last time.

"I'll be all right. If I really need it, I'll slip out during the party. I just have a few more finishing touches to add before they get back," Alice told him as she checked on the cake that she was baking for the humans.

She knew Nessie would probably prefer to just go hunting with the rest of them, rather than eat cake. However, Nessie knew how excited everyone got when she ate something they tried cooking for her, so she always indulged them.

Alice had been planning a huge party for Renesmee's sweet 16 for the past month. Though Bella had told her it wasn't necessary, Nessie had been too eager about the idea of a party for Alice to deny her it. Unlike her parents, Nessie wasn't shy. She was mature when she needed to be, but spending a lot of time with Jacob (and Rosalie, Emmett, and Alice) had built up an energetic, bubbly personality in her.

Jasper and the others were going out for a quick hunt before the party. Charlie would be coming tonight, along with Sue, and Billy. The Cullens could never be too careful when they were welcoming humans into their home.

"It looks spectacular already, Alice. Don't stress yourself too much. Nessie will love it," Jasper told her, feeling a hint of anxiety in her emotions.

Alice's teeth shined in the kitchen light as she grinned and stood on her toes to peck his cheek. Her love and appreciation for him was there, second nature, as her lips touched his skin.

"I'll see you soon," he promised.

"Party begins at 7," she reminded him, in the habit of playing human. They both knew he didn't need a reminder. Nessie's fifteenth birthday party had started at 7, she hadn't had a fourteenth, her thirteenth had started at 5, her twelfth at 6...

Vampires had impeccable memories.

As Jasper left, Alice grinned, taking the cake pan out of the oven with her bare hands. It smelled atrocious to her, but she knew it smelled just how it should to taste perfect to a human.

______________________________________

"Can I help, Aunt Alice?" Nessie asked. Bella and Edward had returned shortly after Jasper and the rest of the Cullens had left to hunt. They decided to catch up with them for a quick hunt, leaving Renesmee behind with Alice and Jacob.

"Sure. Taste this," she said, shoving a spatula covered in icing at her.

Nessie grimaced, "Really?"

Alice shot her a dark glare and Nessie quickly took the spatula from her, licking the tip of it.

"It's good," she told her.

"Just good? Damn…" she wrinkled her nose, trying to figure out what she had done wrong in the recipe for homemade chocolate icing.

"It smells fine to me, Alice. Give it here," Jacob said, grabbing the spatula from Renesmee. He shoved the whole thing into his mouth, licking the chocolate from it.

"It's perfect. Delicious. Fantastic. It couldn't be better. Don't mind Nessie…you know if you didn't mix in some deer blood or something, then she's not a good taste tester. So picky," Jake teased.

Nessie stuck out her tongue at Jacob and he laughed. Alice laughed too, seeing herself in Renesmee.

"Yeah, you're right, Jake. I don't know why I didn't ask you in the first place."

"Hey, the birthday girl is not appreciating being ganged up on," Renesmee pouted.

"I invented that pout, Ness, it's not working on me. Now, go play with Jacob, I have to decorate your cake and you can't see it until it's finished," Alice said, pushing them out of the kitchen.

She turned to start putting the dirty mixing bowl, spatula, and extra ingredients away before she started decorating the cake.

The glass mixing bowl shattered in her hands as she was struck with a vision.

"_They're fine--following orders--"_

"_--won't fight it--"_

"_Good girl--"_

_A flash of chestnut hair._

_The smell of cinnamon and a hot summer night._

"_NO!"_

"Alice!"

Someone was shaking her violently. She squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them quickly, staring into two concerned faces.

"What did you see, Aunt Alice?" Renesmee asked, her brown eyes staring intently into Alice's black ones, searching for answers that she wouldn't find.

"I don't know…just snippets…I guess you two were blocking some of it," Alice murmured, looking at the shattered glass around her feet.

"We heard the glass break…you don't break glass," Jacob said firmly, protectively. Ever since Renesmee's birth, he and Alice had developed a special relationship that had only progressed over the years.

"I know…I…I don't know what that was," Alice said, confused.

"Do you want me to find Jasper?" Jake asked.

Renesmee nodded at his elbow, "Yes, let us go find him. They're probably almost done hunting anyway."

Alice shook her head quickly, "No…no. I'm fine." She put on a bright smile. "I'll just clean this up and finish your cake. Why don't you call Charlie and see if they've picked up Billy yet?"

They would pick up Billy at 6:57 and arrive at the party at 7:17. "Fashionably late," Sue would say to the two men. Alice had seen it already. But she needed them out of the kitchen, preferably out of the house. She needed to try to see more details of her vision.

Renesmee searched Alice's face before nodding, realizing that the best thing to do right now would be to listen to her. She took the hint and grabbed Jake's hand.

"C'mon Jake. We'll go for a walk and call them," Nessie said.

"Just yell if you need something. I'll be listening for you," Jacob told Alice with a meaningful look. Jake and Nessie were both more than familiar with how Alice's visions worked a lot better when they weren't around.

"I will. No worries," Alice chirped with a smile.

She listened as the front door clicked closed, and then as their footsteps gradually got farther away.

She cleaned the mess in less than 30 seconds, decorated the cake beautifully in 45 seconds, and then added finishing touches to the house in two minutes. She hated to rush, but it was already 6:50. The others would be home momentarily and she wanted to make sure she saw just a bit more before they arrived.

She went into the living room and laid down on the couch, closing her eyes, not sure what she was even looking for.

"_I'll come too," Jasper whispered._

_She shook her head, "Stay. I'll be back in a few minutes."_

_He eyed her and she knew he was trying to take in whatever it was she was feeling. He gave her a look, asking with his eyes what was going on._

_She stayed calm and shook her head, wordlessly expressing that it was nothing important. At least she didn't think so…_

_He raised an eyebrow at her uncertainty and she ran a finger over a scar on the back of his hand before silently slipping out of the house…._

_* * *_

"_Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Renesmee, Happy Birthday to you!"_

"_Blow out the candles!" Sue shouted._

"_Make a wish first," Jacob added._

_Nessie closed her eyes, thinking of a good wish…_

_* * *_

_Alice eyed a deer, followed it closely, before crouching to pounce. _

_A twig cracked from behind her, startling both her and the deer. The deer sprinted away as she turned quickly to see who or what had interrupted her hunt. Had Jasper followed her after all?_

_* * *_

"Sleeping through the party you've been planning for so months, Alice, dear?" Charlie asked, a twinkle in his eye.

She jumped, startled. She had been so immersed in searching the vision that she hadn't noticed them coming in.

"Where's Ness and Jake?" Sue asked, coming in close behind Charlie.

"They went for a walk…they should be back soon," she answered quickly, faking a yawn, playing up the 'sleep' act. "I guess I worked a little too hard doing last minute touch ups," she said, shaking her head.

Who had been following her in the vision?

She took a deep breath, smelling the air. The family had just returned and were upstairs, dressing. She listened carefully, hearing them speaking to each other. They would all be downstairs soon enough.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Alice asked, ever the good hostess.

"Would I be out of line asking for a cold beer at my granddaughter's sweet sixteen party?" Charlie asked.

"You're only as out of line as I am for having beer to give you," she said, sharing a smile with Charlie, "Same for you, Billy?"

Billy nodded politely, "Yes, thank you, Alice."

"And for you, Sue?"

"Anything is fine, I'm not picky," she said with a friendly smile.

"I'll be back soon then," Alice said, flitting into the kitchen and right into Jasper's embrace.

"Surprised to see me?" he asked, sensing her heightened alertness.

She smiled, melting into him. "Nope. I'm just listening for Nessie and Jacob. They should be back soon."

"We ran into them on our way back. Nessie decided to hunt after all," he explained.

Despite herself, Alice grimaced, "And she told me she'd eat my cake, too."

He laughed and let her go, following her to the fridge.

"I'll get the beers, you pour a glass of wine for Sue?"

She nodded, taking a bottle from their wine cabinet and popping the cork casually.

"Hunt went well?" Alice asked, making unnecessary small talk.

"Hunt went very well," Emmett boasted, entering the kitchen, Rosalie behind him. "Jasper and Edward owe Rose and me an all expenses covered trip to Egypt, thanks to my fantastic skills," he said.

Jasper rolled his eyes, sharing his annoyance with Alice. She giggled, pouring the wine, forgetting about her earlier visions and wrapping herself in the light atmosphere of the party about to begin.

"Does that make us break even, then, Emmett? Jazz and I never did get that trip to Australia we were promised when we predicted Nessie would kiss Jacob before Jake would kiss her…" Alice pointed out.

"You looked, though. That's cheating, sis," Emmett playfully scolded.

"I did no such thing," Alice said, lying perfectly.

"I think Ness and I deserve your trip to Australia _and_ your trip to Egypt just because you've been making bets on us," Jake interrupted as he and Nessie came in through the kitchen door.

Charlie peeked his head in the kitchen, "You home-brewing that beer, Alice?" he teased lightly.

Alice grinned, stepping lightly on Jasper's toes as he tensed. _He's kidding._ Her emotions spoke to him, _Calm._

She had a vision of Jasper saying _You've worked hard to make this party perfect. He shouldn't be making demands. _He changed his mind at the last minute, after he felt her emotions sway during the vision as she got his message.

She tossed Charlie the two cans and he caught them. "Thanks sweetie," he said, leaving the kitchen. She turned to face Jasper, raising an eyebrow, giving him the "you're being overprotective" look.

His eyes narrowed and he raised an eyebrow, _Your emotions are giving me a reason to be. _He communicated wordlessly. _Something bothering you?_

She shook her head quickly. She felt him using his power to calm her a bit, and she give him an appreciative smile. He always knew when she needed him to use his power and when she needed him to let her feel the impact of the visions without him. Right now, his calming was needed.

"Visions are incomplete…scattered. I'll keep you informed, but it's not anything serious," she said out loud.

She felt Jacob looking at her curiously and broke out of her almost entirely silent conversation with Jasper to face Nessie and him with a glare. "And you, Renesmee Carlie, had better still have room for my cake."

Jasper felt a surge of guilt rush through Renesmee. She smiled sheepishly as the rest of the room laughed.

"C'mon, lets start this thing before she turns seventeen," Emmett said, grabbing the wine glass from Alice and taking it into Sue.

The group followed him, meeting the rest of the family in the living room to start celebrating Nessie's sixteenth year.

Jasper kept close watch on Alice, though, as the night began. He felt a feeling of foreboding coming off of her that he wasn't entirely sure she was aware of, and it made him nervous.

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**Please review! Constructive criticism is welcome and greatly appreciated!**


	2. Flashes

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**Takes place Post Breaking Dawn.**

Thank you for your reviews and adds! Once again, constructive criticism and input are greatly appreciated.

And enjoy chapter two...  


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Losing her…the only one who has ever known who I am--who I'm not-- and who I want to be…--_The Fray

She had hosted the party for a few hours now, but her heart was no longer in it. The visions kept coming in snapshots. Brief flashes. Between Jacob and Renesmee, she was surprised to be getting even those.

"_Est-ce qu'elle ecoute?"_

"_Oui--shh."_

_A soft voice, "Excellent."_

_Fear. Anger._

_Cinnamon._

She gasped almost inaudibly as she came out of the vision again. Everyone except the humans heard her and she watched as eight pairs of eyes swiftly glanced her way. She could see the curious concern in their faces as they quickly pretended that nothing was unusual.

They were all seated around the dining room table, Nessie at the head of it, waiting to sing. Jacob stood behind her, his hands resting on the back of her chair as they chatted with the others.

Esme came in from the kitchen with the chocolate cake that Alice had made. Alice had decorated it with sprinkles that looked like glitter and icing that read, "Happy Sweet 16 Renesmee" in flawless calligraphy. It was perfect. It would taste perfect.

She frowned, though, knowing a lot of it would go to waste while the Cullens pretended to eat it in front of the humans. She hoped that they could convince Charlie, Sue, and Billy to take most of it home with them. Edward nodded to her, hearing this thought.

"Time to sing!" Esme announced with a quick glance to Alice. She expected that Alice would lead them in it, but Alice shook her head at Esme, still puzzled over the vision, hoping she could catch a few more flashes. Did they know anyone who spoke French before English? _Is she listening? _The French-speaking person had asked. Was _who_ listening?

Esme understood and placed the cake in front of Renesmee. Jacob reached over Nessie's shoulder to light the seventeen candles--one to grow on.

Edward stood behind Bella, who held a camera to document her daughter's sixteenth birthday. From where he stood, he was directly across from Alice. He gave her another look as if to ask what her vision had meant.

She shrugged, beginning to feel even more frustrated. She knew Jasper was wondering as well, as he sent his confusion over her. _I don't know._ she answered him with her eyes and a tilt of her head.

"One, two, three!" most of the group shouted, before they all sang:

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Renesmee, Happy Birthday to you!"

Alice could hear the perfect harmonic blend between the voices of her family. Rosalie's soprano two voice and Alice's soprano one voice weaved perfectly through Edward's tenor and Jasper's and Emmett's basses. Esme sang alto while Carlisle sang tenor with Edward. The humans, at least compared to the Cullens, just sounded tone deaf. She grinned at the mix, though, feeling that it was all perfect.

"Blow out the candles!" Sue shouted.

"Make a wish first," Jacob added into her ear.

Nessie closed her eyes, thinking of a good wish.

Alice briefly wondered if Edward would read Nessie's mind and fulfill her wish. She half hoped he would concentrate on someone else's thoughts while his daughter made her wish--wishes were supposed to stay secret until they came true.

He must have heard her thought, because he chuckled and nodded to her, as if to assure her that he wasn't listening.

Nessie took a breath and blew out the candles all at once. Everyone applauded as the smell of melted wax and candle smoke filled the air.

In the dark, Alice saw Nessie reach up and lightly place her hand against Jake's cheek. He smiled and nodded at whatever she had just shown him. She returned the grin as someone flipped the lights back on.

Renesmee was passed a large knife to cut the first piece of cake for the Cullens to start to pretend to eat.

_--A struggle. Darkness. Surrender.--_

She couldn't see the details, though.

Alice squeezed Jasper's hand and he followed her into the other room, away from the party.

"I need to clear my head. I'm seeing flashes and it might be important," she confided in him, her black eyes gazing into his gold ones.

"I'll come too," Jasper whispered.

She shook her head, "Stay. I'll be back in a few minutes."

He eyed her and she knew he was trying to take in whatever it was she was feeling. He gave her a look, asking what was going on. She could see the hesitance in his eyes as he debated on whether or not he wanted to listen to her.

She stayed calm and shook her head, wordlessly expressing that it was nothing important. At least she didn't think so…

He raised an eyebrow at her uncertainty and she ran a finger over a scar on the back of his hand before silently slipping out of the house. He followed her to the window and watched as she started across the yard.

_"I trust you, Alice,"_ she saw him say in a vision as she left.

She sent out a wave of appreciation to him as she sprinted into the clear night air, away from the party, away from Jasper's protection, away from the involuntary block that Nessie and Jake put on her sight.

Neither Jasper nor Alice could have known it would be their last interaction for quite some time.

She ran until she was deep in the cool, dark woods and paused as she heard a deer. It had been weeks since she had last hunted…the blood might help her visions become more clear…make more sense…

She crept closer.

Alice eyed the deer, followed it closely, before crouching to pounce.

A twig cracked from behind her, startling both her and the deer. The deer sprinted away as she turned quickly to see who or what had interrupted her hunt. Had Jasper followed her after all? She didn't smell him…didn't feel him…

As she whirled around, she didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't this.

She met a pair of deep red eyes and crouched immediately, a snarl erupting in her chest. If she had learned anything from Jasper in their years together, it was to never trust any stranger at first meeting.

The man's calm voice was low as he spoke gently, putting his hands up, "I mean no harm, _madame_. Please, may we speak?"

His accent was French, she realized as she slowly stood upright, senses alert. Could this be the man who had been speaking French in her earlier vision?

Why hadn't she let Jazz come with her?

She didn't trust herself to slip into a vision right now. She needed to focus. Be alert.

Immediately, she remembered when she had learned the fighting techniques that Jasper had taught her in their beginning days together.

* * *

"Teach me to fight," Alice said, out of nowhere, as they walked along onto their next destination, though they weren't quite sure where that was yet.

"Teach you to fight?" She sensed his hesitation and smiled encouragingly at him.

"Yes, please!" she chirped.

"Mmm…why do you want me to teach you to fight?" he asked warily.

"Just in case. What if we're attacked on our travels?" she asked.

"We wouldn't be attacked for no reason. And if we were going to be attacked, you'd see it, and then we'd prepare in advance--change our route, or figure out what to do to protect ourselves."

"What if it's a spur of the moment attack? And I don't see it?" she wondered.

"There wouldn't be a spur of the moment attack. A real attack is always carefully planned."

"What if it's a newborn attack?" she challenged.

"They'd attack a human, not us."

"What if someone told them to attack us?"

"Then it would be planned," he repeated.

"What if I don't catch the attack? What if I'm preoccupied watching for something else?"

"It would slip through, I'm sure. And if not, I'd handle it," he assured her.

"What if you're not there?"

He glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow, "Why wouldn't I be there?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. You're…off hunting without me?"

"I just won't hunt without you, then," he decided.

"Okay, then you're with me, but there are too many attacking us and you need me to help you!"

"Then we would see that in advance and prepare for it," he answered again.

"You don't want to teach me," Alice finally stated with a pout. She knew he couldn't deny her pout.

He frowned, "It's not that…"

"Then what is it?" she asked curiously, not harsh or demanding.

"I just…I don't know, Alice," he said. She felt a wave of uncertainty flow through her from him and was highly amused, yet sympathetic.

"What, Jazz?" she questioned, taking one of his hands as they walked.

He paused for a long moment. She waited patiently, her finger stroking a scar on the back of his hand. He finally responded.

"I don't want to teach you because I don't want you to ever have to fight," he admitted, averting his eyes.

Understanding flooded through her and she felt a warmth where her heart used to beat.

She stopped walking and he stopped with her, but didn't turn to face her. Instead, he stared straight ahead, still not meeting her eyes.

She stepped in front of him and looked up to meet his dark eyes, just barely rimmed with gold.

He looked into her deep gold ones and she lost herself in the many emotions she felt around them. The hope, the love, the happiness…some anxiety on his part, met by surprise and appreciation on her part.

"You're surprised," he stated, sending an echo of her emotion back to her as if to prove it.

"I wasn't expecting that reason," she explained.

"I'm not used to surprising you," he said with a crooked smile.

She searched his eyes for something before nodding.

"Jazz. I know that you'll always be here and I promise you that I won't ever fight unnecessarily…but I want to learn. I need to do this. And I want to learn from you…not anyone else," she told him.

He studied her face for a long time.

"Please?"

He couldn't deny her anything.

With a sigh, he started to teach her all of his techniques-- scoping out the situation, defensive moves, offensive moves, how to strike properly, kill properly,_ everything_ he knew.

He taught through the night, right there on the deserted road that they had been walking on. He didn't stop teaching her until she had successfully pinned him, her teeth at his neck.

She felt a swell of pride from him and she kissed his neck and whispered into his ear.

"Thank you."

He nodded, knowing it was good for her to know how to fight, even if he swore to himself that she would never have to.

"You know more about fighting than a lot of vampires," Alice told him as they continued to walk.

"Probably."

"You wish you hadn't had to learn the way that you did," she stated again, quietly.

"You're right," he confided, just as quietly, warmth spreading through him this time. He was amazed at how perceptive she was.

"No one will ever force you to fight again. You'll only do it if you choose to," she started to say, "I saw it...but I knew that before my visions confirmed it," she informed him matter-of-factly.

He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to as he took her hand. What they were feeling said more than words ever could.

* * *

She wished he was here as she remembered everything that he had taught her. However, she quickly focused and scoped out the situation.

She immediately discovered that there was more than just this man in front of her. She sensed two others in the brush behind him, but didn't call attention to them.

"Speak, then," she said sharply, still tensed.

He smiled deviously. She didn't like the vibes he was giving off. She eyed him warily, a dark warning glare across her face.

"_Tu es Alice, non?_" he asked in French.

"English," she demanded harshly, though she spoke flawless French.

"You can still answer the question," he said, the amusement in his eyes glittering like rubies.

"I am Alice, yes. Who are you?" she asked, bracing herself in case he or the two hiding decided to attack.

"I am Raoul. That's all you'll need to know right now," he said before snapping his fingers.

The two others came out of the brush from behind him. A tall, thin woman with white blonde hair and an average sized man with rust colored hair.

"Stay away from me," she growled as they approached. Her look was menacing. She might be small, but she could be fierce.

"They're fine…just following my orders," Raoul spoke again soothingly. Too calm.

She shook her head as the woman with the white blonde hair glanced her way. She smelled of cinnamon.

"This can be easy or this can be hard," the woman said directly to Alice. Her accent was French, too.

Alice took a step back, weighing the options carefully, as Jasper had taught her. Three against one. They were all fully fed, she was considered thirsty. Two strikes against the odds of her winning against them in a fight.

"What do you want?" she hissed.

Raoul smirked, "We'll wait for you to look. Check the future. See if you can answer that one for yourself."  


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	3. Choices

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**You are all SO amazing for reviewing! Your reviews/alerts/adds made my day--thanks so much for the feedback!**

**Hope I lived up to your expectations with this chapter! Read on & let me know!  
**

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_"I'm broken when I'm lonesome and I don't feel right when you're gone away..."_ --Evanescence

Alice backed against the tree behind her, feeling the rough bark against her back. Who was this man? Why did he know so much about her?

"Go ahead. I insist. It's easier if you see it, rather than me trying to explain. We won't harm you," Raoul said smoothly, taking a step back from her as if to attempt to make her more comfortable.

She eyed him, realizing he wouldn't back down until she searched her visions. Against her better judgment, hands behind her back, bracing herself against the tree, she let her visions overtake her.

_* * *_

_It was dark, so dark that she could barely make out her surroundings, especially in the vision. Faintly, she heard people talking._

_"Just go fetch her for me. I'm bored and have yet to meet her." A woman._

_"Are you going to tell her why?" Raoul._

"_I don't know yet."_

_"Can I tell her why?" The voice was cruel, cold, but uncharacteristically excited._

_"No, not yet," the woman's voice answered, "And why are you still standing here? Go get her!"_

_She was annoyed._

_* * *_

_Jasper stood in the woods where Alice was now. He glanced at the tree that she was currently leaning against and came closer. In the tree, Alice had carved something. _

_After reading it, Jasper whipped around, his eyes frantic, searching for any sign that they were close by. His normally calm face was wild with rage. His eyes showed that he was close to breaking._

"_NO!"_

_* * *_

As Alice came out of the vision, Jasper's tortured eyes turned into Raoul's glinting red ones. His smile, if you could call it that, was curious.

"Well?" he asked inquisitively, as if he was quizzing her.

"You're taking me away," she whispered, the reality of the situation slowly dawning on her.

He nodded, "Yes. Anything else?"

"Its dark," she said cryptically, remembering her visions.

He didn't understand what she meant, but shrugged.

"It's inevitable that you're coming with us. You've seen it, yes?"

She nodded, her face blank. She tried to keep herself calm, tried to think. What would Jasper do in this situation?

Raoul studied her carefully, "Are you going to make this hard for us, Alice? I wish you wouldn't…" he said slowly, persuasively.

"What if I do?" she challenged quickly, her eyes flashing.

He shrugged, "I don't know. I'm sure we could think of something. Fighting us probably wouldn't benefit you. You're outnumbered. Running might make it more fun for us… maybe we could bring_ Jasper_ with us too, if you make it back to him in time."

She froze as he said Jasper's name, his tone full of derision. How did he know Jasper? What was this about?

"Or we could bring another one of your family members… Rosalie… Edward… Renesmee…"

Cold shot through her as he said their names.

"Why do you know my family?" she demanded, trying not to look afraid. She was, though. What did they want from her?

_Jazz,_ she pleaded silently, _now is definitely the time to be overprotective of me…_

Raoul shook his head as a small smile crept onto his face. He wasn't going to answer her that. Not yet.

Her thoughts swarmed as she made the decision to fight them off.

* * *

_Her body was in pieces, different parts being carried by the three of them. "We'll put her together when we get back," the white-blonde woman said._

_* * *_

She came out of the vision, feeling sick. Fighting them would not help her situation. She needed to be in one piece at all times…

Raoul grinned as he noticed her searching her visions, but said nothing, waiting for her to make a decision. He was very intrigued by her extra sight.

He trusted that no matter what Alice saw, her love for Jasper would cause her to give herself to them in the end. _She_ had told him to expect that, and Raoul had no doubt about it after seeing Alice's reaction to him mentioning Jasper's name. Meanwhile, Alice searched again, making the decision to run.

_* * *_

_She sprinted through the woods the way she had come. The three were close behind her, but she would make it back to the house before them._

_Alice burst through the door and into Jasper's arms. _

"_What is it, Alice?" His hands closed around her tiny arms as he shook her, his eyes burning into hers, looking for answers, "_What?_ Why are you so afraid?"_

_Nessie. _

_The vision came in snippets as Renesmee entered it. _

_The man with the rust-colored hair fighting with Bella, Edward coming to protect her._

_The white-blonde woman drinking Charlie's blood._

_Raoul grabbing Nessie and running into the woods. _

_The white blonde grinning knowingly as recognition fluttered across Jasper's face. She lunged at him in his brief distraction, biting a knot of scars at his neck._

_* * *_

Running was not even an option, she realized. She couldn't consider it again. Too much harm would come to her family.

She had learned one thing from the vision though--this group knew Jasper.

It was almost as if Raoul could see the wheels turning in her head as he waited patiently.

She decided to go willingly with them, figuring she could try to escape later. She could keep searching her visions while she was with them, plan something later.

_* * *_

_The dark room became slightly more defined. She heard footsteps coming closer and a door creaked open._

"_Come, Alice. This will be…interesting," Raoul's amused voice got louder as he brushed past a guard outside of her door. He grabbed her around the wrist and led her up a set of old, crooked stairs._

_* * *_

_Alice was at the top of the same stairs now, but it was later. It was after he had taken her somewhere, but she couldn't glimpse where they were returning from._

_She tried to struggle at first, determined to keep some dignity, but Raoul yanked her out of the other guard's grasp and pulled her close to him. The back of her head was pressed against his stomach as he squeezed her to stop her writhing._

"_I wouldn't fight this if I were you…" he hissed into her ear._

_* * *_

As she came out of the vision, she eyed him suspiciously, her vision proving he was capable of being violent.

"I'll come with you. I won't fight it," Alice told him, her eyes glazing over briefly as she had the vision of Jasper again. This time, a little more added on to the end of it. He would be safe. Her family would be safe. All she had to do was go with Raoul.

Despite the pain at leaving, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth before she suppressed it, crossing to stand next to Raoul. Jasper would come for her, she knew he would. She had hope.

The woman and man with Raoul jumped to his side, ready to defend him. He was calm, though, sensing she wasn't intending to harm him.

"Good girl," he said, grabbing her wrist tightly.

At her glare, he chuckled. It sounded wrong for being a laugh. "Just in case," he explained as he nodded at the other two.

"_On y va," _he ordered. Let's go.

The four of them retreated quickly in the opposite direction that Alice had come from the house. She swallowed nervously as she realized that she still hadn't fed. She was nervous, too, about who these people were and what they wanted from her, but part of her assured her that things would turn out okay. Jasper wouldn't give up on her. The thought of him kept her from being overwhelmed with terror.

Jasper. Her vision. The tree.

She felt wood shavings under her fingernails and her brow furrowed in confusion. Had she carved something during the vision?

She nonchalantly glanced back and realized that she must have subconsciously carved something into it. Her sharp eyes saw what she had written, and she was filled with hope again. Jasper would understand.

She _would_ see him again, she promised herself, no matter what the two of them had to do.

_________________________________

Jasper paced back and forth, his eyes darting to the window every few seconds. The others were whole-heartedly feeling the tension rolling off of him, but they knew better than to say anything to him. Especially when it involved Alice.

"Shall we get ready to open presents?" Sue suggested.

Renesmee, ever perceptive, glanced up at Jacob. She put her hand to his face, asking him a silent question, and he looked over at Jasper, who either was intentionally ignoring him, or too uneasy about Alice being gone to notice Jake's look.

"Let's wait a little…" Renesmee said, feeling Jasper's worry. She felt worried for Alice, too, and didn't want to do anything else at the party until Alice had returned.

Edward and Bella tried to cover up the awkwardness that the party had taken on during Alice's absence by chatting with Charlie, Billy, and Sue.

Meanwhile, Jacob was saying something to Rosalie, Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme.

Rosalie shook her head in annoyance before stalking over to Jasper, determined.

"Jasper, this is getting ridiculous. You're making us all worried now and I don't know if I'm _really_ worried or if I'm just feeling it from you. I can't decide if this is something to be concerned about on my own, so I'm just going to try and indulge you and suggest that we go find her. She's probably not far," Rose said, her tone expressing her irritation. She didn't like when he let his feelings get out of control like this, effecting everyone else.

He shook his head, "She asked me to stay."

"Well, she didn't ask _me_ to. Or Emmett. So we're going to fetch her," Rose said stubbornly, wanting to solve the problem.

"No you're not," Jasper stated calmly, but there was the slightest hint of a threat in his voice.

Across the room, Emmett let out a low warning growl.

Jasper could feel Emmett's protectiveness of Rosalie. He could also feel Carlisle's determination, probably at keeping the peace. He felt Esme's love and concern. Faintly, he could feel the exact same feeling coming from Renesmee and Jacob--they were both feeling the same level of anxiety.

Rosalie sighed, used to him being this way, "She wouldn't be angry. Maybe a little annoyed at you being overprotective of her, but not angry. I know you know that," she reasoned.

He did know that. And he knew that he would be being overprotective if he went after her after she had been gone for fifteen minutes rather than the five that he had been expecting. But something still didn't seem right. Alice wouldn't have wanted to miss so much of Renesmee's party.

There had been four times in his life when he had felt like this. It was a strange feeling-- almost like a sixth sense.

He had felt it when Alice had slipped up once, biting a human on her way back from a shopping trip without him.

He had felt it when she left to check on Charlie after she had thought Bella had jumped off of the cliff.

He had felt it when she had been in Volterra, saving Edward and Bella.

And he had felt it right before the battle against Victoria's army of newborns.

This feeling normally meant something bad was about to happen.

He took Rosalie's words into consideration and decided that he couldn't hold off anymore. It was worth risking Alice being annoyed at his concern.

"Stay here," he said, his voice low, as he swiftly left the room.

He felt Rosalie's contentment as he left. She was happy that he had listened to her and he was grateful that she listened to him when he told her to stay. He and Rose had developed a mutual respect for one another early on, and normally considered each other's wishes or advice when needed.

Jasper pushed thoughts of the family aside and focused purely on Alice's scent. He followed it deep into the woods, but still couldn't feel her. If he was getting closer, he'd be able to feel her emotions. How far had she traveled?

Anxious, he moved quicker, suppressing the panic that was starting to rise in his chest.

As he searched, he suddenly came across the scent of another vampire. His senses flared as he realized that it was not just one, but three. Three nomads? What were they doing so close to the house? Usually, anyone passing through avoided them unless they were planning to visit. And the scents were leading away from the house…

His military instincts sparked. He should go back for help from their family. He should go get reinforcements...at least Edward and Emmett, probably Rosalie, maybe Jacob too...just in case he came across the group. His mind raced. Edward could listen to their thoughts...see if they were a threat. Emmett would be there for his strength, Rosalie for her wit, Jacob for the surprise element. Having people with him would be better...

But he let his concern for Alice blind him as he followed the scents. He was overwhelmed by the need to find her. He needed her. He needed to see her, feel her emotions, run a finger across her cheek...

Suspicion arose in him as Alice's scent intertwined with the scent of the three vampires. She had met them. Definitely.

He struggled not to let the panic overtake him. He took a few breaths, steadying his nerves.

He glanced around, trying to find any hint that something had gone wrong.

Then he closed his eyes, depending entirely on his sense of smell. He followed Alice's scent to where it was strongest. He took it in for a moment, using it to calm himself, pretending for just a moment that she was there.

When he couldn't stand it anymore, he opened his eyes and focused on what was in front of him.

He stood directly in front of a tree. Carved into the bark, there was a message. A message from her.

After reading it, Jasper whipped around, his eyes frantic, searching for any sign that they were close by. His normally calm face was wild with rage. His eyes showed that he was close to breaking.

"NO!"

The cry bellowed from his chest, full of emotion. He knew that his family at the house had heard him, but he was too distraught to think of it.

He sank to his knees, his eyes never leaving the bark of the tree. His fingers rose of their own volition, tracing the letters she had carved into the tree with her fingernails.

He repeatedly traced them, over and over, losing all sense of time.

After a few moments, he vaguely felt Rosalie and Emmett approaching with Carlisle, but he didn't turn to face them. They came to his side gently, but alert. He felt them backing away, though, as they felt the strength of his emotions.

"Jasper," Rosalie said quietly, tentatively.

He didn't respond, trying to clear his head, thinking of ways to explain to them what he thought had happened. He continued to stare at the last thing Alice had touched before she had been taken, still tracing the words she had carved because it was the closest thing to touching her.

"What does it mean, Jasper?" Carlisle asked, trying to remain calm for them all. Jasper knew they could all feel his anger. His guilt. His despair. His confusion. He knew he was projecting it, but he couldn't bottle it. It wasn't possible to hold back such strong, sharp emotions.

In the tree, Alice had written just nine words.

_J, Taken by Raoul. I'll wait for you. A._

After the 'A' she had carved a heart.

He ran his fingers over the heart now, before responding to Carlisle.

"I can't explain here. But it means they took her. And it's my fault."

* * *

**How am I doing? Too fast, too slow, just right? Constructive criticism and/or your thoughts are SO greatly appreciated. Please review!**


	4. Curious Revelations

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**Thank you, once again, for all of the feedback. Your reviews/alerts/adds mean so much to me! Please continue to let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is appreciated, as well.**

**And here we go... =)**

* * *

_"Close, low, bright eyes, fading faster than stars falling..." --Mastodon._

Alice listened carefully, trying to hear what they were saying above. The sound was muffled, even with her incredible hearing. She figured that they might have went outside to speak.

She could hear nothing that made sense. Finally, their footsteps seemed to get closer to the house.

"Est-ce qu'elle ecoute?"

"Oui--shh. We will speak more later." Raoul.

Alice sighed, trying, to no avail, to figure out what was going on.

They had traveled quickly through the night, just making it to their destination before daybreak. If her senses were correct, they were in Texas. She had traveled to Texas with Jasper a few times, and it _smelled _like Texas to her. She tried not to lose herself in the good memories that she had of Jasper here.

The three vampires had taken Alice to a huge house in the middle of nowhere. Raoul and the woman had then escorted her down a set of stairs into a basement. Alice thought that they would leave her there, but instead, Raoul had walked to the corner of the basement and opened another hatch that was built into the floor.

"Down there, please, ma petite chérie," Raoul had ordered, amusement glinting in his eyes.

Alice had glared at him, but went down the second set of stairs into a room with concrete walls. She could smell the mud that was behind the walls and knew that she was way below the ground.

The woman had followed behind Alice and now stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking bored. Alice guessed she was waiting to be summoned again.

"_They'll need us. I'm following as back up. You can stay or you can come."_

She blinked, coming out of the vision. Renesmee? Alice knew Jasper better than she knew herself-- he wouldn't want Renesmee to come; it would be too dangerous. Nessie was defying him and coming anyway? And who was she speaking to?

Alice sighed and tried not to think about it. She was in enough of a predicament as it was.

She decided to focus more on her present situation and stop worrying about the future for a moment.

Jasper had told her that it was important to know the enemy when fighting. Alice straightened up, took a breath, and slowly walked over to where the woman stood.

The woman tensed, ready to fight, but Alice put her hands up.

"I'm not going to try to fight you. I was just wondering your name?" Alice asked, her voice ringing.

The woman narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Pourquoi?" Why?

Alice sighed, "I'm just curious. I haven't asked why I'm here yet or what is happening… the least you could do is tell me your name."

She scrutinized Alice. Finally, she apparently came to the conclusion that Alice was just genuinely curious.

"Je suis Aurelie," the woman said simply. I am Aurelie.

"I know you speak English, Aurelie," Alice said.

"And I know you speak French. What does it matter?" Aurelie replied coldly.

"I guess it doesn't," Alice said flatly, for lack of a better answer.

Aurelie was gorgeous. She was thin and tall, standing at least a foot above Alice. Her white-blonde hair was wavy, flawlessly falling to her shoulders. She wore a simple powder blue summer dress and a ring on her right ring finger.

As Alice examined Aurelie, she held in a gasp as she noticed Aurelie's legs. Around both of her ankles were deep, crescent scars. They weaved together like an ankle bracelet and then a chain of them led down both of her feet, stopping at her toes. They were neatly checkered on the tops of her feet.

Alice looked at her more closely and noticed the same style of scars around both of her wrists, running up her inner arms. They were hauntingly beautiful, much like Aurelie.

Aurelie watched her staring and smiled bitterly."You act as though you had never seen scars like these before," she said, her French accent thick. She rubbed at what looked like a fresh one on top of an older one on her inner wrist. "But your Jasper is covered in them, no?"

"His are different," Alice admitted out loud, her eyebrows pulling together in thought.

"How so?"

Alice figured she had nothing to lose by continuing to talk with Aurelie; so she answered her honestly.

"His are more random…they're battle scars. Yours look more…planned. Like they were put there, in that design, on purpose."

Aurelie's look pierced her, but she did not respond to Alice's comment.

"Just go fetch her for me. I'm bored and have yet to meet her." Alice heard a woman speaking upstairs. She sounded close.

"Are you going to tell her why?" Raoul.

"I don't know yet."

"Can _I_ tell her why?" His voice was cruel, cold, but uncharacteristically excited.

"No, not yet," the woman's voice answered, "And why are you still standing here? Go get her!" She sounded annoyed.

Aurelie had heard, too.

"Raoul is coming. Stand over there, please," she ordered.

Alice sighed and backed up, away from Aurelie and the stairs. She heard Raoul's approach and swallowed. _Stay strong, _she told herself.

Just as she expected, Raoul arrived just a few seconds after she had heard him speaking.

"Bonjour, Aurelie. Elle est…?"

"She is fine. She has behaved," Aurelie told Raoul, glancing over at Alice.

"Pity." Raoul smiled at Alice. His look send shivers down her spine. Alice was used to Jasper sharing others' feelings with her; she wondered what Raoul's what have felt like right then.

"Come, Alice. There is someone who wants to see you," Raoul said, his scarlet eyes dancing in excitement, "This will be...interesting."

Raoul brushed past Aurelie to come further into the room.

Alice glanced at Aurelie, and at her nod, she approached Raoul, who led her up the crooked stairs, through a maze of dimly lit hallways, until bringing her to a room.

She wondered who could possibly want to see her. Briefly, she was afraid that they had caught one of her family members, but then she shook that thought away. She definitely would have seen it.

Raoul had led her to an intricately designed door. He turned the golden handle gently, opening it.

As they entered, Alice immediately realized why he had seemed so excited. She knew the person who he had led her to. A sense of foreboding filled her as the woman approached.

"Hello, dear Alice. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Maria.

Alice's steely glare became fiercer. "You," she whispered in disbelief. _Maria_ had been behind this?

"Me. Yes, me. I was hoping Jasper would have been with you…killed two birds with one stone… but you'll do for now. I'm sure he'll be arriving shortly. God forbid he be away from you for a few hours, let alone days," she smirked, rolling her dark eyes.

"Leave him alone, Maria. I swear I'll destroy you right now--" Alice growled, trying to free herself from Raoul's grasp. The sight of this woman had infuriated her beyond reasonable thought. How dare she try to come back into Jasper's life? How dare she take Alice away from him? She thought only of Jasper's well being as she struggled with Raoul.

Aurelie joined Raoul, and between the two of them, they had managed to grab Alice by the wrists and hold her away from Maria.

"Calm down, Alice. We'll have much time for destroying and all that fun stuff later. I just wanted to personally welcome you to my current residence before Jasper came and threw a fit over me taking you from him. Please don't make us hurt you… he has quite the temper and I really don't feel like dealing with it anymore than I already will have to," Maria said smoothly, coming closer to them.

Alice glared daggers at her, but stopped struggling. If they hurt her, she couldn't help Jasper. If they hurt her, Jasper might lose touch with his senses. Alice needed him to stay focused. They were in a _serious_ situation right now; Maria was wild. She was cunning. And she was lethal.

Maria saw her calm down slightly and smiled approvingly, "Thank you." Then, her dark eyes looked her over.

"She's a pretty little thing, isn't she, Raoul?"

"Ah oui, tres jolie, Maria. Jasper always seemed to stumble across the good ones," Raoul answered in his French accent, inadvertently complimenting Maria while his eyes inspected Alice as well.

Alice watched as his gaze lingered at her chest, and she let out a low growl.

Maria laughed, clearly amused at their interaction, her gorgeous face illuminating.

"A little feisty, though, too," she observed, leaning down, her dark scarlet eyes gazing tauntingly into Alice's black ones, "another thing you and I have in common."

Raoul joined in her laughter. Alice's glare did not waver.

"Besides our height, we have nothing in common," Alice said sharply, daring, able to stare her in the eyes.

Maria cocked an eyebrow and circled her before coming behind her and whispering softly into her ear, "Our height, our strong personalities, Jasper…we share a lot, Alice, dear. We're more alike than you'd like to admit, I'm afraid."

Alice clenched her fists at Maria's tone, but knew that this was not the time for a fight. She had to think of Jasper.

"I am nothing like you," Alice spat.

Maria smiled, "You might feel differently after you get to know me a little better. We'll have time," she said simply before turning to Raoul.

"Take her below, I'll deal with her after I return from hunting," Maria told Raoul dismissively.

She then looked over to Alice, "And if you behave, maybe I'll bring you something to eat too," she said, her eyes glinting maliciously.

Alice stared back at her, trying to look unafraid, but said nothing. Jasper had taught her that a good soldier always knew how to pick his or her battles.

Raoul approached Maria. "That's it? You mean we aren't going to--"

"Not now, Raoul." Maria silenced him.

Raoul sighed, "But then why did we even…"

"Enough," Maria hissed, "just take her below and then join me."

She then turned to look at Alice. "I'll see you soon."

As Maria exited swiftly, Raoul motioned with his head to the other guard, the one with the rust colored hair. He joined Raoul and Aurelie, and together, they held Alice's arms and guided her down to the basement.

She tried to struggle at first, determined to keep some dignity, but Raoul yanked her out of the other two vampires' grasps roughly.

He pulled her close to him. The back of her head was pressed against his stomach as he squeezed her to stop her writhing.

"I wouldn't fight this if I were you…" he whispered into her ear, "the harder you struggle, the more control over you I'll have to take. And right now, the only thing stopping me from taking full advantage of you is Maria. Think about it, _ma cherie_."

She stopped wriggling as his smooth voice sent chills through her.

"Much better," he said, kissing the top of her head.

Alice stared straight ahead, her eyes trying not to betray her as fear creeped into her system.

Aurelie met her gaze and, to Alice's surprise, gave her a slightly regretful warning look before glancing away quickly.

The other guard chuckled. "Be careful, Raoul. Maria said we're to take it slow…"

Raoul only smiled. He led her single-handedly down to the basement and this time, the other male guard, the one with the rusty hair, was the one to stay below with her.

"I'll bring you food soon," Raoul promised, kissing her forehead.

"Don't bother," Alice said sharply, flinching away from him.

"What kind of host would Maria be if she didn't feed you?" he taunted with a laugh before leaving her with the guard.

She went to stand in the corner, away from the guard, and pressed her back against the smooth concrete wall. She slid to the ground and curled herself into her knees, closing her eyes to look for more visions of Jasper.

* * *

**Sorry if this seemed short/fast and also, sorry for the longer wait! It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to include in this chapter. Plus, I beta for a story, [mentioned on my profile page], and between working in real life and then beta'ing, life's been busy. But thank you to all who've stuck with me so far. I promise, I have more ideas for this... will you stick with me a little longer? Review please, and let me know how you're liking it, whether it is praise or constructive criticism... I welcome both! Thanks =)**


	5. Trust

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

You are all AMAZING for reviewing! Thank you! Your input keeps me motivated to keep up with my writing! =) Here is the long-awaited Chapter 5.  


* * *

  
_I know what darkness means...the isolation stings...the echoes in my brain...you took my everything. Now I'm coming for you...--Fuel_

  
Jasper was still as he sat on the back porch. He had been sitting there since they had returned from the spot in the woods. Carlisle, Rosalie, and Emmett hadn't needed to look at him to understand what he was going through. His emotions were too strong to hold in and he knew that they could all feel the agony and guilt that he was projecting. They had went inside quietly, solemnly, effected by his emotions. Only Carlisle had been able to stay for an extra moment.

"When you figure out what you'd like to do, and what is going on, please let us know. I'll prepare the others and find a way to get Billy, Charlie, and Sue home."

When Jasper didn't respond, Carlisle took a step closer to him. Jasper felt Carlisle's hand on his shoulder.

"We will do anything we need to do in order to help, son," Carlisle had told him, "And we _will_ get her back." His voice was pained, feeling Jasper's grief as well as his own, but also determined.

Jasper nodded, his eyes staring straight ahead, as Carlisle went into the house.

The first couple of hours were spent wallowing in misery. He had let her go alone. His Alice was gone... she had been _taken_ from him.

He felt like a huge weight was pressing in on his chest. He couldn't think straight. His thoughts were all muddled and he couldn't breathe.

She had been alone. He had promised her, a long, long time ago, that he would always protect her. He had promised her and he had promised himself. She was the most precious thing in the world to him. Without her... well, what was the point? If Alice didn't exist, Jasper didn't exist. That was the best way that he could make sense of it.

He thought back to the time that he had taught her how to fight. She was a good fighter--quick, and she could use her visions to defend herself against her attacker's next move. She was impeccable.

Plus, to this day, she would sometimes try to sneak attack him--just for the fun of it. They would play-fight and polish their moves until it almost turned into a dance.

The playful memory of her fighting with him made the weight on his chest become heavier. His throat itched, but it wasn't entirely because he was thirsty. He swallowed hard and let out a quick breath, trying to ease the stabbing pain in his chest.

He knew that if she could have beaten Raoul, she would have. She must have seen something in the future that had made her go with him. If she could have stopped this situation, he wouldn't be sitting here missing her right now.

Jasper finally snapped. His face contorted in pain as he remembered the last thing he had expressed to her.

"I trust you, Alice."

And then he had let her go alone. She knew that he trusted her, but now, could she trust him? He had let Raoul get to her…!

Raoul. His eyes flashed at the thought of him. He would make sure Raoul paid for this, just like…

He shook his head, not wanting his thoughts to go there. This wasn't the time.

He thought of his Alice, again.

The smooth skin of her hand brushing his scarred one.

Her eyes, and how they sparkled enough to light up his own as well.

Her tinkling laughter that made him chuckle, too.

How empty he felt, now that her always warm, always loving emotions had been torn from his life.

He sobbed tearlessly as he thought of her. They had taken a vital part of him when they took her away.

His despair was aching, but soon it slowly transformed into fierce determination. He would save Alice. And he would do it right.

He pushed down the feelings of grief that threatened to overtake him. He was a master at manipulating emotion; and now he would manipulate his own. And he knew exactly what to do.

Standing quickly, he said, in a normal tone, "Carlisle. I have a plan."

He waited on the porch as he heard the rest of the family, who had been anxiously listening for him inside, start to walk to the door to hear what would happen next.

* * *

Alice had seen Jasper in her visions.

First, he had been sitting still, thinking, but soon he was talking with the rest of the Cullens. He had formed a plan.

She guessed that Jacob or Nessie were involved, because soon after he started to explain his plan, her vision had blacked out entirely.

She had watched Jasper in her vision for a long time. The familiar contours of his face calmed her as she took him in. His jaw was clenched, stressed, and his eyes were torn and agonized. Despite his weary appearance, she couldn't help but look at him. Just the sight of him gave her hope that she would figure out what was going on and then get away from here. Away from Raoul, and Aurelie, and Maria...

Sighing in frustration, she opened her eyes just as the guards were switching. She wasn't sure how long she had been in the vision, but it couldn't have been very long. Maybe an hour at most.

"Difficile, Etienne?" Aurelie asked as she entered the room to switch places with him.

"No," the man, Etienne, responded, "not difficult at all. She stayed over there with her eyes closed."

Aurelie nodded, her face emotionless, "Maria dit que tu as besoin de manger maintenant."

Maria says that you need to eat now. Alice understood it without having to translate it into English for herself.

"Merci... I'll save some for you."

Aurelie looked him in the eyes and Alice noticed that her eyes were a lot redder than they had been earlier.

"Not necessary," she said simply.

Etienne turned to look over at Alice with a small smile, "Maybe some for you, then."

He turned away, but Alice spoke anyway.

"Don't bother."

Etienne paused and turned to face her with a strange look on his face. He shook his head and laughed it off.

"Maria is right. You are alike. Neither are afraid of anything, even when you are...mmm... 'in way over your head'? Is that the expression?"

"Go now, Etienne. Raoul would not be pleased," Aurelie said sharply.

He tensed at the mention of Raoul, but nodded and walked out with one last chuckle at Alice's behavior.

Aurelie shut the door behind him and turned to look at Alice.

"What are you doing?" Aurelie demanded.

Alice raised an eyebrow, "I suppose I'm waiting for something to happen, aren't I? There must be a reason why I'm here..."

"Why are you turning down food when you are clearly in need of it?" Aurelie asked, her accent thick. Alice wondered why she suddenly decided to honor Alice's wishes and speak in English to her.

"I don't drink from humans," Alice stated, her voice strong.

"Beggars cannot be choosers." Aurelie's scarlet eyes pierced Alice's.

"I'm not begging."

Aurelie's eyes narrowed so slightly that it was barely noticeable. "Raoul and I assumed that you would wish to be stronger, so that you may attempt an escape or fight," she admitted, confused.

"Raoul and you do not assume correctly, then, do you?" Alice said, annoyed.

Aurelie flinched at the sound of Raoul's name. "I suppose we do not."

They were silent for a few moments while Alice analyzed Aurelie's reaction to her mentioning Raoul. It was similar to how Etienne had reacted.

"How long have you known Raoul?" Alice asked, after a moment.

"Long enough," she said, shortly, avoiding the question.

Alice noticed that she subconsciously rubbed the scar designs on her arms.

"Why is everyone so afraid of him?" she asked bluntly. She figured she had nothing to lose, and Aurelie seemed...well, pretty okay. Sure, she had helped to capture Alice, but she didn't seem as malicious as Raoul or Maria.

"What makes you think everyone is afraid of him?" Aurelie asked, her eyes looking away from Alice's glance.

Before Alice could answer, she stiffened with a gasp as a vision slammed into her.

_Raoul stood very close to Aurelie. He leaned in to her, but her posture was stiff._

_"I thought we decided that this would be rare," Aurelie said quietly._

_"_You_ decided that this would be rare," he corrected as he walked to stand in front of her. He placed his hands in hers and she looked away from him._

_"Now, now, Aurelie. Ce n'est pas mal. It is over in a just a second and then I get what I want and I leave you alone."_

_She kept her eyes away from him as he trailed his fingers up and down her scarred arms._

_"Or... I don't_ have_ to leave you alone," he said suggestively, leaning in to let his lips brush her ear._

_She shook her head quickly. "No. No...you will leave me alone."_

_His smile was disappointed, "Ah, well. One day, then."_

_She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed, "Just do it and go away."_

_His eyes narrowed at her tone, but he lifted her hand, as if to kiss it in a greeting._

_"As you wish, ma cherie."_

_And then he bit the side of her wrist, right next to a healing pink scar. This would complete another bracelet of bites that scarred her._

_She gasped sharply as his venom poured into her, her fingers tightening into a shaking fist._

_Then, his motions switched. Instead of letting the venom flow into her, he now seemed to be sucking something out of her. Alice didn't know what, since she clearly had no blood..._

_When he was finished, he pulled back with a grin. He kissed the back of her hand lightly with his lips before letting go of it._

_She pulled her arm away from him and held her wrist in her other hand, still refusing to look at him._

_"Merci, Aurelie. I will enjoy tonight."_

_Aurelie grimaced in pain, her eyes still shut, as she nodded._

_With a devious half smile, Raoul left her just as she collapsed to the floor, cradling her wrist to her chest.  
_

"Hey! Hello? Alice!"

Her name sounded like "Ah-leese" when Aurelie spoke it, Alice thought faintly, her thoughts scrambled as she pulled out of the vision.

Then she realized what she had seen and backed away from Aurelie, who she noticed was standing a lot closer to her, now.

"Was that another vision? What happened?" Aurelie asked, slightly frantic, her hand outstretched as if to help Alice.

Alice shook her head and cleared her thoughts as she glanced at Aurelie's extended hand. She noticed the pink scar among the whiter ones, with a small amount of smooth skin next to it. That is where Raoul would bite her. _Raoul_ was the one who had given her all of those scars. But why? Why was he thanking her? Why did he bite her like that? What was he doing to her? What did it _mean_?

"Yes, a vision," Alice answered quietly as they heard footsteps approaching.

Aurelie's glance darted to the door. "Raoul is coming, now," she said quietly, backing away from Alice to get the door for him, politely.

Or maybe not politely. Maybe she was ranked under him, and it was her duty to open doors for him.

Alice shook her head, trying to make sense of her vision.

Another thing bothered her as well. Why the sudden concern from Aurelie? Why was she being almost friendly to Alice?

Alice decided she needed to closer herself off from these people. She could not afford to be friendly with any of them. They had taken her from her Jasper. From her_ family. _

Aurelie could not be trusted.

Raoul stepped into the room with a smile at Aurelie. He kissed her on the cheek in greeting.

Alice froze as she watched him, thinking of what he had just done to Aurelie in her vision.

On top of that, she could smell something with him. Something sweet, savory, warm...

She heard the beating heart, pulsing blood, and labored gasps of breath before she saw anything.

He had brought a human with him. For her.  


* * *

**And that concludes Chapter 5! Your input/constructive criticism is SO appreciated. Review please! Let me know what you think so far! =)**


	6. Decisions

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**I'll leave the author note at the end. Sorry to have kept you waiting!  
**

* * *

Previously:

_She heard the beating heart, pulsing blood, and labored gasps of breath before she saw anything._

_He had brought a human with him. For her.  


* * *

_

_--He holds tight, he stares...--Her eyes are dark now and they hurt like hell...--Barcelona_

Twigs snapped as they ran through the forest. Jasper could hear the dirt crunching under their feet. He was aware of his surroundings. The trees, the animals, his family with him… but his main focus was on her scent. Alice.

He smelled her on the tree trunks, mainly, as if she had purposely touched them on her journey so that she could help him find her. He was grateful that she had thought to do that; it made it a lot easier for them. He expected to reach her within a day, if he had any control over it at all.

Jasper was entirely capable of thinking clearly, but he wouldn't let his thoughts drift too far into the future. Alice knew the future. Jasper did not.

His let his mind drift into the very close past, right before they had left for their journey…

He had stood on the back porch of the Cullen house as the entire family joined them. They had all watched him warily, and he tried not to let their emotions effect him. He needed to stay in control. He needed to plan methodically. That was the only way that this would work.

While sitting on the porch, he had decided who he would bring with him. It had to be family members that would not let their emotions overpower them.

"I had originally planned to go alone, but I know you all well enough to know that that would be out of the question," he started, glancing briefly at where Carlisle and Esme stood. Esme's emotions confirmed that for him.

"It would be too much if we all went. There'd be too many things to worry about and, honestly, I can't afford to slip up. I've thought of three who I'd like to have with me, if you're willing. If I ask you along, and you'd rather not come, I will not think any less of you," he explained carefully. He could hear himself sounding more and more like his 'battle' self, already.

They waited patiently, none of them wanting to upset him or anger him. They all loved Alice, but Jasper was in control of this. He knew the most about tactics, and he knew at least one of the vampires who had taken Alice.

He let out a breath out of habit, and then looked at each person as he said their name.

"Emmett, Edward, and Bella. If you'd like, I want you with me."

He felt Rosalie's anger shoot up and he gave her a look. "That is exactly why you're staying here," he explained.

She shook her head and looked away from him, fuming, as Carlisle put a hand on her shoulder.

"I think I speak for all of us when we say that we will undoubtedly help you, Jasper," Edward said. He tried to keep his emotions as calm as his voice, and Jasper appreciated it.

Jasper had chosen Edward not only because he would be able to read their thoughts, but also because he could read Jasper's. It was a good way of communicating and also a good way for Edward to keep Jasper in check, in case something happened and he couldn't control himself… but Jasper hadn't dwelled on that part of his thoughts too much. Edward would also be helpful because he was able to keep his emotions under control.

Bella would be helpful to him because of her shield, but also because she was Alice's best friend. He swallowed hard at the thought of Alice. Jasper knew that both Bella and Edward still felt like they owed Alice for saving Edward in Italy. He figured that would make them even more determined to help, now.

And Emmett would be helpful because he was intimidating. He had the strength of a newborn, which Jasper might need to take advantage of. In addition, Jasper had noticed that Emmett had a strange ability to keep everyone optimistic in dire times. Emmett seemed to have constant good humor woven through his emotional climate, and Jasper would need him to keep them going.

"I'm going with you, too," Jacob said, looking Jasper in the eye, as if daring him to say no.

Jasper's eyes flitted over him for a moment, and then he nodded. "Fine." Having a werewolf might take them by surprise. Surprise was good...

"Then I'm coming, too," Nessie said, stepping to stand next to Jasper.

"No." The word was spoken by Jasper, Bella, Edward, and Jacob at the exact same time.

She stepped back in surprise, her brown eyes flashing, "Wow, did you all plan that one?"

"It's too dangerous," Edward said sternly.

Renesmee studied him carefully, judging her odds of winning this battle.

"It's dangerous for all of us, Nessie…and you're part human," Jasper started to tell her.

"Yes, I know this! Why is that fact always being brought up?" Jasper noticed how much Renesmee looked like Bella--human Bella-- in that moment.

He shook his head, his face not changing. "You're part human and you're incredibly intelligent. Can you tell me why I don't think we should bring you with us to at least three or four vampires who just-- who just to-- they have--" he tried to finish his sentence, but couldn't bring himself to say that they had taken Alice out loud.

Renesmee could sense his struggle and hated to see her uncle in so much pain. She bit her lip and frowned, not wanting him to complete the sentence. "It's not safe for someone with blood to be around vampires who drink from humans… I understand," she said quietly.

Jasper nodded curtly. "Thank you."

She tried to hold back tears and then flung herself at Jasper. He caught her in his arms and held her close, like he had when she was little. Her blood did not bother him; the part of vampire that was in her sort of blocked out the smell of the human, if he concentrated hard enough.

She pulled back and put her hand to his face, conveying something to him. Her eyes stared deep into his.

After seeing what she had asked, Jasper squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them quickly. "Just one, Ness. Your pick… I'm sort of just going on a whim, anyway…"

"You're sure?" she asked. He could feel her hesitation and fear and it was too deep for him to ignore. He nodded.

Renesmee hugged him again tightly and pecked his cheek before turning around to face the group. She cleared her throat nervously.

"Jasper wants both of my parents and Jacob to come with him, but, if something happens to any of them--I--" she wiped her face, trying not to cry.

"I feel really selfish asking this, but…Uncle Jazz said it was okay if one of them stayed behind…."

She looked away, ashamed. Jasper sent waves of calm her way, and she looked over to him with a small, grim smile.

The three in question looked at each other, silently speaking between the three of them. Jasper watched as Bella took a deep breath.

"I'll stay."

"Bells, are you sure?" Jake asked immediately.

She nodded.

Edward shook his head, "Jacob or I can stay behind if you'd rather go. I trust you. And they might need your shield…"

Bella shook her head fiercely, meeting his eyes. "You stayed behind for me once, with Victoria. I can stay behind for my daughter…" she said confidently.

Edward kissed her forehead with pride as Jasper nodded.

"Fine. Bella stays. Edward, Jacob, Emmett…let's get going."

Jasper said his goodbyes to Carlisle and Esme while Edward and Bella stood with Jacob and Nessie. Rose and Emmett stood off to the side, saying their own goodbye. The overall tone of sadness was thick in everyone's emotions, and Jasper wanted to be away from it as quickly as possible. It was starting to fog his mind...

"Go get her, Jasper. Send word through Jacob to keep us updated; Seth is coming by the house soon," Carlisle told him, patting him on the shoulder.

Esme was more emotional. She pulled him into a hug and he felt guilty for the worry that she was feeling.

"Be safe, my son," she said softly, kissing him on the cheek.

He nodded and started to walk swiftly away from the house, trusting that his brothers would follow or catch up, if they waited too long to follow.

At that moment, Jasper needed to get away from the love of his family. Away from their worry and their anger and their fear. He needed to focus simply on his determination to get his wife back to him, no matter what the cost.

_No matter what the cost…_ he pondered that now, as they flew through the woods. He glanced at Emmett, then Jacob. He felt slightly ashamed of himself for being willing to risk their lives, and the happiness of Rosalie and Renesmee, for his own needs. He needed Alice… and he was putting them in danger to save her.

Edward caught up to him and sprinted next to him.

"We know the risks," he said quietly, reading Jasper's thoughts.

"Alice is a daughter, an aunt, a friend…and my sister. She is worth that risk," Edward continued.

Jasper nodded, but didn't say anything out loud.

_I know,_ he thought, _thank you…  
_  
And then he shut his mind down, continuing to dart through the forest, his heart pulling him to Alice.

* * *

"You look utterly terrified, dear Alice. Pourquoi?" Raoul shoved the human to Aurelie as he approached Alice. Aurelie locked her arms around the man, so he couldn't move.

The man was crying and Alice had to look away. She shook her head as Raoul came closer to her.

"Come, now. Jasper wouldn't want you to starve, would he?" Raoul inquired persuasively.

He circled around her and put his face next to hers, so that they were both facing Aurelie and the human. She could feel his cool breath against her own icy cheeks as he whispered, his left cheek parallel to her, against the right side of her face.

"You don't wonder if he tastes as good as he smells? You aren't even curious?" he asked quietly, slowly, his voice smooth.

She swallowed the pooled venom reflexively, but said nothing, staring straight ahead, her dark eyes blank. She would not give in to Raoul. She would not bite this man, despite the fact that it had been way too long since she had last hunted.

"Or no one would have to know, if you're afraid of what he would think of you," he continued with a malicious chuckle. "Though Jasper is in _no_ place to judge you for drinking from a single human. Just a taste..."

She shook her head quickly, whispering, "No." She could hear the heart pounding, pumping the sweet blood through his body. She could almost feel his warmth from where she stood...

"You can be honest with me, Alice, love," his velvety voice was barely a whisper now, "I won't tell your Jasper about it."

"He already knows me. He wouldn't care," she said defensively, a spark of anger shooting through her at his assumptions. She felt his mouth twitch slightly, but he suppressed the smile.

"Then why not taste him? It's in our nature. In _your _nature. Jasper has done it a myriad of times. Surely, you could try just once more…"

She was shaking her head again. "I can't," she whispered, her high voice frightened. His voice was captivating, drawing her in. She was so thirsty...

His white finger stroked her cheek, "Of course you can, ma petite chérie. All I ask is that you try."

Alice tensed as he suddenly darted to stand in front of where Aurelie held the human in place.

"Here, I'll help you..." Raoul said with a dark grin.

He swiped his fingernails across the face of the human man, causing three thin crimson lines to appear on the man's face. The human cried out, his pained voice echoing among the cold walls.

"Tempting, no?" Raoul inquired, taking in a deep breath of the human's flowing blood.

Alice was holding her breath now, still staring straight, trying to ignore him. She would not give in to this man.

She thought, instead, of Jasper. Of how many times he had controlled his thirst under very tempting circumstances. She thought that he was so strong... much stronger than she was... simply because he had lived off of it for so long and still managed to abstain.

Alice had only tasted human blood once. She knew that it wasn't as hard for her as it was for him. If Jasper could control himself for Alice, then Alice could control herself for Jasper.

Using what little breath she had, she stated forcefully,

"No. No, thank you."

A low snarl rumbled in his chest. He was in front of her in a split second, his eyes blazing.

"Raoul, no--!" Aurelie spoke for the first time.

Raoul swung his arm as if to slap Alice away from him, but she ducked, seeing it in a vision a moment before it happened.

This enraged him even more. Acting on impulse, he threw his fist again, this time connecting with her right cheek.

Alice flew through the air for a moment before slamming against the wall, causing a tiny crack to erupt. Her tiny body slid to the floor, unharmed. But she watched him with fear, remembering what he had done to Aurelie in her vision. What would happen if he decided to bite Alice?

"We are not done here," the man growled at her, all control over himself lost. He then turned away from her and attacked the human, devouring his blood in mere seconds.

Aurelie watched Alice with a look of amazement on her face. She couldn't seem to believe that Alice hadn't drank from the human, even after his blood had been spilled.

The human's howls of terror filled the small room once more as Alice squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch.

_Jasper,_ she thought, her strength starting to waver, _please come soon…I need you....  
_

* * *

**Author's Note: Well? Worth the wait? I'm SO sorry to have kept you all so long, but I appreciate you sticking with my story! I've loved all of your reviews and I look forward to hearing more about what you think. How do you feel about Raoul? Aurelie? Any ideas about why he was biting her in Alice's vision from chapter 5? Or ideas about why Maria has taken Alice, yet? Your feedback is important to me, and SO inspiring. Thank you for reading! Please Review!**

* * *


	7. Confessions

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**Thank you for the feedback on the last chapter!**

**Sooo little bit longer of a chapter this time, since I made you guys wait again...**

* * *

_"...suffer now or suffer then. It's bad enough. I want the fear. Need the fear cause... (he's alone...)"--Chevelle_

"I want her," Raoul stated evenly.

_"Too bad. You'll have to fight him for her. That is between you two. I just needed to get him here," Maria replied, looking out the window._

_"That's not exactly a 'no'..." Raoul started to say. Maria cut him off._

_"No."_

_He grimaced and then glared at her._

_She turned swiftly and had him by the throat against the wall in an instant. "If you weren't so useful, I'd kill you for looking at me that way," she stated clearly._

_He let out a breath as she let go of him and strolled back over to the window. "Get out of my sight. I'll call you when it's time."_

_Raoul left the room, mumbling something in French. But then his eyes sparked, as if he had suddenly figured something out._

_"Aurelie!?" he called, moving at vampire speed to find her._

Alice had been sitting in that same room for a few hours, now.

"Aurelie!?" Raoul called, his voice echoing down into the basement. She had only been seeing minutes into the future.

Etienne raised an eyebrow in amusement as he heard Raoul's voice. He had been assigned to watch over Alice. He was not as talkative as Aurelie, but she was somewhat glad for this.

Alice didn't want to search her visions with him in the room. She felt too vulnerable when she let herself get lost in them. Instead, she just tolerated the fleeting ones that would come over her without her looking for them.

The first had shown her Bella and Renesmee, but she couldn't make out what they were doing or saying. Nessie blocked that part.

A second one had shown her just a glimpse of Jasper's face before he faded away again. She broke her earlier rule and tried to find him again, but saw nothing. She hoped it was just because Jacob was with him. She didn't want to think of the other option of why his future suddenly wasn't there...

The third and most recent one was the one that had scared her. It was the one that she had just experienced now, with Raoul and Maria. What had he meant, he _wanted_ her?

Another vision swept over her, unwillingly. It was detailed, definite.

_As Raoul entered the room, Maria turned to him impatiently. "Finally. What took you so long?"_

_"I was distracted, please forgive me," he said quietly, his eyes downcast in respect._

_"They'll be here shortly. I sent Carlos and Rosa to track them down. They called to say that Jasper is about two hours away, but moving fast. They may get here before then," Maria told him, her Spanish accent just barely noticeable in her excitement._

_"Excellent," Raoul agreed._

_Maria smirked and came closer to him. "Should be nice to see an old friend, don't you think?"_

_He met her eyes and she froze at his glance, her eyes narrowing slightly as she stared at him._

_Raoul grinned and moved so that he was pressed against her. He kissed his way down her neck, his large hands on her small hips._

_"You went to Aurelie," Maria whispered hoarsely, her voice clear with need for him._

_"I did, yes. Sometimes it's nice when you actually _want_ me when we have sex_," _he told her, almost bitterly, as he continued to kiss her._

_Her laugh turned into a moan as his mouth found her chest. "That girl... I never expected that someone could benefit from her gift more than she could."_

_"You never expected to meet someone who could steal others' gifts, either," he said, making her gasp as his teeth grazed her skin._

_"Too bad it's only temporary," she taunted him._

_He bit her, angry that she was disrespecting him, and she dug her nails into his shoulders, "Raoul, if I was thinking correctly right now, you'd be suffering," she said, amused.  
_

_"Lucky for me, then," he mumbled, "Enough talking."_

_Raoul made it last until he felt the effects of what he had taken from Aurelie start to fade. Maria wouldn't want him nearly as much when Aurelie's power left him entirely. He used the last few moments to his advantage._

_"Raoul," Maria begged. He loved to make her beg. The only time that she would be submissive to him was when he tricked her into it with Aurelie's help. He'd have to find a way to thank Aurelie someday._

_"I want Alice, Maria," he said roughly, not giving her what she wanted just yet.  
_

_"He won't help us, then. I don't--" she moaned again as he teased her, "Please, Raoul," she pleaded once more._

_"Let me bite her," he whispered into her ear as he tongue flecked over her neck. He was perfectly still._

_"Fine!" she yelled, giving in to him. In return, he gave her what she wanted; let her feel how she needed to feel, all the while smirking at the way she said his name._

_Aurelie really didn't realize how powerful her gift could be._

Alice watched as Aurelie came in to sit with her. She was beautiful as ever, but there was something in the way that she walked that let Alice know something was different.

Alice's eyes scanned over her, resting on her wrist. Her vision had come true. She didn't need to see the bite mark to know it. She had just seen Raoul using it against Maria. To make Maria agree to let Raoul bite her....

That one vision had told her everything. Jasper would be here in around two hours, maybe more, maybe less, depending on how far into the future the vision was. It felt close.

Raoul had been with Maria for about fifty minutes in her vision, which meant that he had about an hour to get to Alice. Maria, in the heat of the moment, had given him permission to bite her.

Alice finally realized the significance of Aurelie's scars. Every one of them was from Raoul. He had bitten her that many times so that he could use her gift. It seemed that by biting her, he managed to get a taste of her power. What exactly was her gift? To be able to make people lust after her?...

She tried to suppress the fear of Raoul's wishes coming true. She tried to have hope that Jasper would come in time....

If she had understood Raoul's gift correctly, then by biting Alice, Raoul would be able to temporarily steal visions from Alice. He wanted to know the future.

"Leave us," Aurelie told Etienne quietly.

Etienne raised an eyebrow. "And do what?"

"Don't question me. I don't care. Just go," Aurelie replied sharply. She reminded Alice slightly of Rosalie. She thought that they would get along. Either that, or end up killing each other.

He kissed her cheek before leaving them. Aurelie stood stiffly at the door, staring at Alice.

"I want to tell you something," Aurelie started.

-~-~-~-

"I want to tell you something," Jasper started.

"What?" she giggled, brushing her nose against his.

"Something I've never had to say out loud to anyone," he said quietly.

She blinked as he let her feel the shift in his emotions. He had gone from being playful to serious in just a second.

"I'm listening," she said clearly, curious about what he suddenly felt that he needed to tell her.

He swallowed, but his eyes never left hers. "You never--" he took in a breath, "you saw me with Peter and Charlotte, right?"

She nodded, waiting patiently to see where this was going. She could feel that he was nervous, but even if he hadn't been letting her feel it, she would have seen it in his eyes.

"But never with Maria?"

She shook her head. "You were never with a Maria. Sometimes you were with me and other times you and I were with the Cullens... or you were with Peter and Charlotte. Or alone..."

He ran his fingers through her hair and she nuzzled her face into his hand. They were laying outside, under the stars, on a beach somewhere along the east coast.

"I'm... I didn't... you know about the wars."

"Some. What you've told me from the scars."

While they had traveled, they had invented a game to pass the time, but also to get to know each other. To get to know the person that they both felt so connected to immediately.

In the first part of the game, Alice would pick 2 scars and Jasper would tell her how he got them. She'd ask him so many questions about the story, wanting to know everything about him.

Then, in the second part of the game, Jasper would ask Alice two questions: one about her vampire past, that she could answer, and one about her human past, that she couldn't.

Sometimes they'd make up fun stories about what she might have been like as a human. Other times, he could feel the loss that she felt when she realized that no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember.

"Well... I purposely never mentioned Maria when I told you stories about the scars..." he admitted, trying to feel out her emotions. She was still calm.

"Okay," she nodded, "you want to tell me about Maria? 'Cause I have a feeling if you don't do it soon, I'll have a vision about it before you get the chance," she tried to joke to lighten the mood.

"That might actually be easier..." he mumbled to himself. She crinkled her brow with concern, now.

"Jasper... you can feel how I feel, yet you're still uncertain?" Alice asked, running her thumb over a scar under his eye.

He searched her eyes again before he closed his own, giving in.

"Alice, when we would fight well, we were rewarded. By Maria. Our leader. She would give us anything we wanted: small territories to watch over and hunt in, an extra few humans to share with her that night... and if we did especially well, she would give us herself...."

He weighed her reaction and felt her curiosity and concern. He wished he knew _why_ she was concerned!

Alice stayed silent, so Jasper decided to continue. "When we didn't do so well... when we lost a battle, or disobeyed orders, we were punished. Again, by Maria. She'd take away territories, starve us for a few days until we couldn't take it anymore... or she'd..." He stopped as he felt the growing fear in her. Then he pushed through it.

"She'd force us to give ourselves to her. For whatever she wanted. Sometimes it would be to watch her eating while she only allowed us a drop of the blood. Other times it would be for more. For sex. For biting... for whatever. She liked to bite... to keep us in line."

He turned his wrist over to show her a particularly gruesome scar that covered part of the front of his wrist and part of the back. "Besides marking necks out of passion, she liked to bite wrists...out of dominance. To show that we were hers. More than once. It's where she bit me when she turned me... she liked to remind us why we were there in the first place."

He started to lose himself in the memories, until he felt Alice's tiny fingers curling around the scar that Maria had marked on his wrist.

"Her venom burned sharper than any other I've ever felt," he confessed, his eyes cloudy.

Her bright eyes met his. "And you were afraid to tell me this until now," she stated. It wasn't a question. She knew.

He tried to explain to her. "I feel as if... as if I need you. And I know that you feel that way too."

It hadn't been said, but both knew that it didn't need to be. It was there. They needed each other. They wanted each other. And they both felt like they were getting close to sealing those wants and needs by taking the final step in their commitment to one another.

"I didn't want..." he shook his head, "before anything else happened between us, I wanted you to know that the way that I felt about Maria was just some form of twisted lust. It could never mean anything close to what I feel when I'm with you. And I needed you to know that the first time we're together, it will be to make love. It won't be anything at all like what Maria initiated...."

He searched her eyes and tried to lighten the situation, "I apologize, I'm not very good with words. Emotions are more my specialty...."

But Alice's emotions were confusing him. He expected something painful, or some type of confusion from her... but she was excited and her love for him was starting to crush every emotion in his body.

"No words, then," she whispered.

He felt her nerves perk just for a moment, and then pure bliss coursed through her as she crushed her lips against his, pulling him tightly to her on the sandy beach.

And after making love with Alice for the first time, his hope for the future was sealed and definite.

-~-~-~-

"How do you know them?" Edward finally asked, breaking Jasper out of his thoughts about Alice. Edward had noticed that Jasper had been doing nothing other than remembering different things that he had done with Alice throughout the years. But he didn't need to read Jasper's thoughts to know that he was lost without her.

"Raoul?" Jasper questioned out loud, so that Emmett and Jacob could hear too. He could feel their curiosity peaking with Edward's.

"Yes."

"Raoul and I fought alongside Maria for a time," he answered.

He felt their emotions spark as they recognized the name.

"Do you think...?" Jacob started.

"Yes," Jasper answered, knowing what he was about to ask. "He's still fighting with her. I have no doubt that she's involved."

No one said anything. What could they say? How did you comfort someone who had just had part of their own soul ripped from them?

They ran in silence for a while, until Jacob stopped, followed quickly by Edward.

Jasper felt the shift in their emotions. An identical wariness spread through both of them, and Jasper sent it to Emmett so that he would understand why they had stopped.

_What's he thinking, Edward? _Jasper thought.

Edward tilted his head slightly to the left, his emotions asking for Jasper's permission.

Jasper nodded, and together, Edward and Jacob leaped into the brush and ran off.

Jasper could feel Emmett's burning confusion, and appreciated the fact that Emmett had decided not to ask Jasper what was going on. Jasper didn't know, either.

Before long, Edward and Jacob had returned, bringing a man that Jasper recognized with him.

"There were two of them. This one and a woman. The woman ran off," Edward explained, handing the man over to Emmett, who could hold on to him better.

Jacob was still in wolf form. He snarled at the man that they had captured.

"This is Carlos," Jasper told them. "What do you know about Alice, Carlos?"

"Please don't hurt me, Jasper. I'm sorry. You know how Maria is..." Carlos begged.

"You know how I am, too. I won't hurt you unless I think you deserve it. Can you give me anything that'll make me want to spare you?" Jasper reasoned calmly.

"Maria doesn't let anyone see Alice. Only Raoul, Aurelie, and Etienne can guard her. They're the ones who took her."

"Why?!" Jasper demanded, his eyes blazing as he moved closer to Carlos' face. "_Why_ did they take her?!" His voice almost broke with the emotions in his tone.

Emmett's grip on Carlos become tighter.

"She didn't tell me! She just sent us out to see how you were progressing. She knows you're coming. That's all I know, I swear. You know how she works... she tells no one her plans, always suspecting them to betray her...."

"That's all you know?" Jasper asked.

"I promise you. It is all I know! Please..."

Jasper tested his emotions, and then looked over to Edward for confirmation. Edward gave him a slight nod and Jasper decided that he was telling the truth.

"We're leaving, now. He is of no use to us," Jasper stated simply, starting to head through the woods again.

"What do I do with him?" Emmett asked, referring to Carlos.

Jasper felt the anger that was coming from everyone, but especially from Jacob. Jacob's anger was close to a mad rage. He was murderous.

He shrugged, his mind, once again, focused on finding Alice. "Let the wolf decide."

And then he ran, knowing that they would catch up. Part of him, to his surprise, didn't want to know what Jacob would do to Carlos.

* * *

**This took me a LONG time to write. But it's a little more than usual... I hope you all enjoyed it. What'd you think of the flashback? Of Raoul? Of his and Aurelie's gifts? Please let me know what you thought of everything---good or bad! Noting makes me happier than to hear what you all have to say about my writing. (Well, almost nothing! haha). Review, please!**


	8. Pain

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**I think this was one of the shortest waits you all have had for an update! =)**

**Once again, thank you for all of your reviews! I think last chapter was the most response I got. Everyone lovessss reviews, so thank you for spoiling me with them! ;)**

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_"Has someone taken your faith--it's real--the pain you feel--the life--the love--you die to heal--the hope--that starts..." --Foo Fighters_

Alice could feel the effects of not feeding for so many weeks. She wasn't fatigued, but the thirst hurt her. Her throat burned, and it was painful to swallow the tiny spurts of venom that flowed at the thought of blood.

She tried to ignore it, now, as she stared at Aurelie.

"I want to tell you something. Maria would not want me to tell you, but if Raoul can cheat, then so can I," Aurelie said, determined.

"I'm listening," Alice said quietly, trying to focus on Aurelie and ignore the stabbing pain in her throat.

"When I first met Raoul..." she started, her eyes far away, "I was instantly attracted to him. I wanted him, so I used my power to get him. If you haven't figured it out already, my gift is one of lust. I can have any man that I want... all I have to do is 'catch their eye.' If they can stare into my eyes, I can make them want me. It's... shameful, I suppose. But I use it..." she admitted.

Alice watched her intently, her black eyes burning into Aurelie's red ones.

"Raoul... after spending that first night with me, he told me that he loved me. And I believed him. I shouldn't have, but I did. So when he wanted to bite me so that he could take advantage of my gift, I let him. He told me that it was how he was luring humans in for us to feed, and I was younger...naive. I believed him."

"He wasn't just using it to lure humans, was he?" Alice asked quietly.

Aurelie chuckled bitterly. "No. No, he wasn't. He was doing more than just feeding on them... and using it on vampires as well as humans. I grew suspicious many years later, but I let him bite me and use me for my power because I craved the love. I wanted someone to love me, not because I made them, but because they wanted to. I never had someone who loved me, before. Not even as a human... as much as I remember of it," she whispered, running her fingers over her scars.

"Decades later," she continued, before Alice could say anything, "I finally got sick of it. What he felt for me wasn't love, and I knew it then. I stopped trying to make him love me and he stopped putting on the charade that he did. Sometimes he would bite me when he could talk me into it, but at one point, I didn't want it anymore. I didn't want him using me. I didn't want the pain that came with the bites... I didn't want the scars... not for him."

Alice watched as her voice filled with passionate emotion. Spending all of her time with Jasper had helped her pick up on emotions better than the average person. She felt Aurelie's sadness, though Aurelie masked it well.

"We fought a lot. If I told him no, he'd try to bite me anyway. Maria got annoyed and threatened to take care of him, but he had too much of a hold over her for her to actually go through with anything. And his gift was too valuable to her... imagine the possibilities of being able to sample others' gifts. So, eventually, I stopped struggling so much. I let him bite me more and more, just so he'd leave me in peace more often..." Aurelie trailed off at the thought of it, and then her voice changed slightly.

"Your Jasper..."

Alice's stiffened, her spine entirely straight at the sound of his name.

"Jasper... he joined us shortly after Raoul and my fighting started. He slowly became Maria's favorite... his power was very useful, too. Raoul was Jasper's comrade, yes, but Jasper was also competition against Maria. Raoul was very jealous of Maria and Jasper's relationship. Jasper was Maria's pet and everyone knew it..."

Alice's eyes flashed at her words. Aurelie noticed.

"I don't mean to be offensive," she covered quickly, "but... you know of his past, c'est ca?"

"I know of his past, oui..." Alice confirmed, interested as to where this was going.

"Well, when Maria started giving him so much attention, Raoul started giving more to me. It was almost as if he was trying to make Maria jealous, but Maria isn't jealous unless she wants to be. She is a good leader... she doesn't have many weaknesses," Aurelie told Alice.

"Maria rewarded everyone the same way... so Raoul was still getting some... _attention_... when he did well. But Jasper was always special to her. Her second in command. Raoul hated him for it, and one night, he told me in confidence that one day, he would make Jasper regret Maria's special liking toward him."

"He already does regret it, though," Alice whispered, before stopping suddenly. _Don't trust Aurelie._..she reminded herself.

"Whether he does or not, Raoul is out for him. It's part of the reason why you're here. Maria wanted you here, yes, but Raoul was the one who pushed it. He made it happen. And he'd like nothing more than to get under Jasper's skin through you...." Aurelie spoke as quietly as she could, silently hoping that Raoul couldn't hear them.

Alice stared her down, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, Alice swallowed the venom burning in her throat and spoke.

"Why does Maria want me here?"

Aurelie looked at her for a long time before responding.

"She knows Jasper will come for you. That is all I can say right now."

Alice looked over her, trying to figure her out. Why was Aurelie telling her this? Well, what did Alice have to lose by asking?

"Why are you letting me know all of this? Why the sudden attempt to be my ally?" Alice asked her, her high voice suspicious.

"Not your ally," Aurelie stated, looking away from her. "I'm with Maria, that I promise. She has been nothing but good to me. I would never betray her."

"All right, then why tell me any of this?" Alice said, her temper flaring. _Calm,_ she instructed herself. _Think of Jasper calming you..._

She was silent for a good few minutes. Alice waited patiently.

Finally, Aurelie met Alice's eyes, emotion burning in her eyes.

"Jasper was... is... the only one who never gave in to what I wanted. If I tried to use my gift on him, he felt the change in emotions. He was furious every time I tried, and he'd tell me to stop it before walking away from me. He never wanted to feel that lust from me, so he stopped it before he could."

Aurelie tried to express to Alice how important that was to her.

"No one could make Jasper feel something unless he let them. And he'd never let me. I respect him very much for that. He never let me control his feelings and he never tried to control mine. He was the only one who told me no..." she trailed off.

"So you're telling me this because you feel like you owe him," Alice guessed.

"I'm telling you this because I hate Raoul. And I respect Jasper. And you belong to Jasper," she said stiffly, as if it was hard for her to admit.

Alice raised an eyebrow as she looked at her. It was as if she was seeing her in a totally different light.

Before she could contemplate it any further, though, they heard footsteps rapidly approaching.

Aurelie's eyes flashed with fear. "Raoul," she whispered.

_Glinting, white teeth, slicing through her skin..._

Alice jumped out of her vision and grabbed Aurelie's wrist. She needed the touch. She needed reassurance. Above all, she needed Jasper. Now.

"Aurelie..." Alice whispered, her voice faltering. She hated to admit it, but she was afraid.

"He fights rough," Aurelie told her quickly, gently taking her wrist away from Alice's grasp. She paused, and then brushed a finger against Alice's smooth wrist. "Be alert, but careful..." she advised. Then she turned and met Raoul at the door.

"Alert, but careful..." Raoul repeated, a smirk on his face.

Aurelie averted her eyes from him and he shoved her away. "Goodnight, Aurelie."

She didn't stumble, just used the force of his push to get further away. She said nothing as she left them.

Alice watched him carefully, trying not to let her wariness peak. She kept her fear under control, like Jasper had taught her.

"How are things, ma cherie?" Raoul asked, his voice smooth.

She didn't reply, standing her ground.

He stepped closer and she took a step back. "Do I make you nervous?" he asked, smiling evilly.

_"Never forget: don't let them get you from behind." _Jasper's voice echoed in her mind.

"No," she whispered. She pressed her back against the wall and stared at him.

_"Pay attention to even the tiniest movements. They'll strike fast, but you can catch the warning if you pay attention."_

His fingers were flexing. He didn't blink. His left eye twitched. His right knee bent slightly.

She paid attention to every movement. Every change of stance. Every slight difference in his facial expression.

And when he lunged, she saw it coming in her mind. She didn't know if it was a vision, Jasper's training, or her own intuition, but she saw it. And she moved.

He crashed into the wall, where she had been standing. She was in front of him now, facing him, her back not covered.

Raoul snarled and sprung again, his arms outstretched as if to grab her.

_"If they get their arms around you from behind, it's harder. From the front, it's quite simple."_

She let him wrap his arms around her from the front and then moved in the way that Jasper had showed her. She slithered out of his arms and jumped on his back, putting her teeth to his throat. But before she could hurt him, he flung her off of him.

He took her by surprise when he did that. She shouldn't have forgotten that he had fought _alongside_ Jasper and Maria. He was a lot more skilled than she was...

_"No matter what, protect your neck. If they get your arms or your legs, it's not so bad. Your neck is vital... it connects your head to your body."_

She watched his muscles twitching as he stared at her, contemplating his next move.

"Don't be stubborn, Alice," he started, his voice smooth. "Just give me what I want and you'll survive to see him again."

"You won't kill me," she said stubbornly, almost out of spite. Maria wouldn't let him, and she was confident in this.

_"If you can't win, don't overexert yourself trying. A battle is just a small part of the war. You can lose a battle and still win the war. Take losses as you need to... it is _not_ giving up..."_

He lunged at her again and she let him come, Jasper's words guiding her. She could not win against him right now, but when Jasper came, she would have a chance. She had to lose this battle, but they _would_ win the war...together...

Raoul landed almost on top of her, and she put her arm up in front of her face, blocking him from her neck.

"Good enough," he breathed, the iciness in his tone settling over her. He head lashed forward and his teeth sliced into the skin near her elbow.

She couldn't help but cry out as his teeth sunk into her marble skin. She had never felt pain like this before. She had been bitten, once, but it had not felt anything like this.

Raoul's venom rushed into her flesh and she gasped at the burning. But before it got better, it got even worse. She felt a weird pressure burning through her skin, setting her whole body on fire. She would have sworn to anyone, right then, that that was what it felt like to be burning alive. To be changed to ash. It coursed through her, flames licking at every part of her being, physically and emotionally.

And then suddenly, the pressure was gone. She was still on fire, her throat burning the most out of every part of her, but the pressure had subsided.

Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she was shaking as she took in many raspy breaths. He had ripped his teeth from her arm and was now standing over her, satisfied.

"Merci, dear Alice. You tasted as delicious as your gift is, I'm sure," he complimented, leaning down to brush his lips against her cheek.

She cringed at the contact. His touch set her skin on fire again.

It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. So she stopped. It hurt to open her eyes and look at him. It hurt to focus. It hurt to think. She just _hurt..._

"I will benefit from this. Hope that I don't like the visions too much, or I shall have to have another taste of them..." he said, smirking again before leaving her, alone, collapsed on the ground.

Her body shook with tearless sobs, but she tried desperately to stop them. It hurt too much to sob.

She ached. It was the same feeling that she had been ignoring in her throat, only amplified times a thousand. And now, instead of it only in her throat, it was through her entire body. She stayed perfectly still, willing it to go away.

_Jasper_, she thought, trying to keep herself sane. Her thoughts were racing, but choppy. _Think of Jasper. He's coming. Check to make sure. Check your visions. Look for him._

She found the energy to let go of herself and search her mind, but screamed out loud when the vision tried to hit her.

She saw nothing but blackness as the pain pierced through her skull. It was more intense than anything she had ever felt. It was as if her entire skull had shattered into sharp pieces that were now burrowing into her brain. She would have volunteered to experience the headaches that she had gotten when Bella had been pregnant, every day, for the rest of her life, if it meant ridding herself of this excruciating pain.

She grabbed her head in her hands, her arms in front of her face like they had been before Raoul had bitten her. Her body still burned and shook involuntarily.

Alice was thirsty. She was burning. She was weak. She was alone. And it was dark. The darkness slowly started to consume her...

Jasper's face swam before her eyes, and she clung to it desperately.

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**Author's Note: Next chapter will be Jasper's point of view. I skipped it in this chapter 'cause Alice's point of view was a tad more interesting. But what did you think?! Aurelie's confessing things, Raoul bit her... craziness. Jasper is going to be mad...**

**Oh! And if you caught it, I wrote that Alice had been bitten only once before in her life. Check out One, my collection of oneshots, for the story behind her one and only scar. It's in Chapter 19: Scars, if you're interested.**

**I always love hearing your thoughts, likes, dislikes, praise, constructive criticism... whatever you wanna throw at me. Please Review!  
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	9. Saved

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**This kept calling to me! So, despite the hundreds of pages worth of reading I have to do for class, I figured I'd procrastinate a little more [something you all know I'm good at!] and write some of Frayed, instead. =) Longer chapter this time!  
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**Once again, thank you for all of your heartfelt reviews! And for your adds. You guys keep getting better and better with those reviews...I'm LOVING them. _Thank you.  
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_When I'm losing my control, the city spins around. You're the only one who knows...you slow it down...-The Fray_

As they got closer, Jasper suddenly knew exactly where she was. He could _feel _her again. He could feel her!

"Really? Already?" Edward asked, responding to Jasper's thoughts.

Jasper, who was already traveling as fast as he could, sped up some more. He led them to a large house on a hill, and he stood outside of it with them.

"I can feel her," he said, his voice cracking with panic. "She's hurting. Edward..."

Edward was already on it, though. "I can barely hear her, but she's thinking of you. That's all I can hear."

His heart was breaking at her pain. They had hurt her... he had come in time, but it was still too late. She was in pain...

"Stay out here," Jasper ordered, starting to head toward the front door.

"What if you need back up? At least take one of us," Edward reasoned, following him.

Jasper paused for the briefest of moments, his thoughts fogging as he thought of seeing Alice again.

"Fine. Emmett, come with me. Jacob, stay here because you'll act as our element of surprise in case things get messy. Edward, you stay here so I can think to you what's going on inside," he planned quickly. He didn't stop for confirmation, just strolled to the door and opened it without knocking, Emmett close on his heels.

Maria had been expecting him. She had Aurelie meet him in the front hall.

"Where is she!?" Jasper demanded of her.

"Maria wants to see you first," Aurelie said quickly, her accent getting lost in the quickness of her words. But she understood which "she" Jasper was referring to.

"I don't care what Maria wants. I want to see Alice. _Now._"

Aurelie's emotions were uncertain, wavering, before Maria came up from behind her. She stiffened slightly.

"I thought he might give you some trouble, Aurelie. I thank you for trying, though," she smiled, kissing her head.

Aurelie bowed her head as Maria stepped in front of her to see Jasper.

"My, my. It _has_ been too long, Jasper."

"I don't want bullshit, Maria. I don't care why you took her, we'll deal with that later. I just want her. Now," Jasper said, his voice desperate.

"Just a few more minutes, Jasper. I wanted to talk a few things over with you..."

He lunged and Emmett jumped in front of him, pushing him back. "Calm down, man. You won't see her this way," he said quietly, only to Jasper.

Maria smirked. "Always a temper. Some things never change."

As Jasper struggled to control himself, Emmett decided to speak.

"Look, Maria. You got him here. The only time he's going to focus is when Alice is by his side again. I highly suggest that you take us to her, now," Emmett said casually, but forcefully.

"Or what?" she said, her voice teasing as her eyes scanned him up and down. This was all a game to her.

"I can only hold him back for so long," Emmett told her simply.

She smirked. "Oh, fine. I suppose you're right. I spoiled him, so he's used to getting what he wants before he listens. I remember."

Jasper's temper flared at her words, but Emmett tightened his hands on Jasper's wrist.

"Come, then. I'll escort you to her myself. But you must come meet with me after your...heartfelt _reunion_... has finished."

"No, after my _reunion_, we're leaving," Jasper said shortly, murderously.

"Or _how about_, after you're reunion, you come meet with me on your own, or I'll send Raoul down with you to escort you to me. You don't want _that_, do you Jazzy?" she mocked.

He flinched at the nickname, and then even more as a wave of hatred came over him at the mention of Raoul's name. They hadn't liked each other when they were comrades, and he didn't like him now. Raoul had taken Alice...

As much as he hated to do it, he quickly agreed with Maria that they would meet with her after.

She grinned beautifully and started skipping away. "Perfect. Follow me, then!" she exclaimed, taking them down the hallway.

After she left them outside of the door of the room that Alice was being held in, Emmett turned to Jasper for orders. "You want me to come with you, or...?"

"No. She--she's hurting, Emmett. I want to go to her slowly. Alone. Stay here, guard the door, and let us know if someone is coming," Jasper said, trying to get his words out.

"Okay," Emmett agreed quickly, not a trace of humor present in his emotions. "It's gonna be okay, man," he tried to assure him, totally serious.

Jasper nodded and turned away from him. He entered the room quietly, but urgently. He needed her. He could feel her pain and he ached to make it go away.

Rage coursed through him as soon as he saw what they had done to her. This was followed by a strange, deep, cold feeling in his stomach. It spread through him, touching every part of him, an overwhelming, throbbing pain. Was it his or hers or both?

His first instinct was to run to her. To embrace her. Hold her tight to him and never, ever let go. But then he was afraid that touching her would hurt her more.

She had curled into herself in the corner, her eyes squeezed tightly together as she rocked back and forth ever so slightly. Her head was buried into her knees, her arms wrapped tightly around them, holding herself together. Her hair stood out at random angles. She trembled every so often, obvious, even to someone who was not an empath, that she was in much pain.

Though all of this killed him, the one thing that had caused his fury to erupt was the crescent shaped mark on her right arm, close to her elbow. He felt that he had enough scars for the both of them. She did not deserve to ever feel what it was like to be bitten out of anger that way. He had never wanted her perfect skin to be tainted by a scar so similar to his own. He couldn't bear to think of someone hurting her, attacking her, biting her. Not Alice. Not his Alice.

He approached her slowly, kneeling down next to her, and looked at the scar closely. Recognition flooded through him as he closed his eyes and let his fingers roam over his own arms until he found the one that he was looking for. Close to his own elbow, only on the opposite arm than Alice's, was an identical scar. _Identical_. Raoul.

Her jumbled emotions were the only things that kept him from running out of the room and hunting Raoul down. He could barely feel the vampire's emotions, but he felt enough to know that Raoul was in the same building right now. If he weren't so afraid for his Alice right now, Raoul would be dying very slowly and agonizingly right now.

But Alice was hurting, frightened, and on the verge of losing it. He could tell. In addition, he remembered the one time that Raoul had sneaked a bite from him. Just one time. And that was enough. Raoul's bites were more painful than other vampires'. If anyone would know that, it would be Jasper.

He worked to suppress his rage again, focusing only on her. She felt many things at once, the emotions coming in short bursts. As each emotion flared, she quickly suppressed it. It was a defense mechanism. If you didn't feel, you wouldn't hurt as much. He knew.

He reached to put his hands on her shoulders and he felt her flinch, closing her eyes tighter. Her lips parted as she whispered, barely audibly, "No…"

The cold agony jabbed at his stomach as a warm rush of panic raced through him. He couldn't see her like this. It was destroying him.

"Alice, love. Alice…" was all he could choke out.

She didn't open her eyes, or respond, but he felt her sporadic emotions fade into a brief calm and her face relaxed just slightly.

He tried again, "Alice, I'm here. Jasper. You're safe, now, Alice. Please, open your eyes. Can you look at me, darlin'?"

He watched as her eyes fluttered and then slowly peeked at him. When she focused and saw him, her eyes widened and her emotions were overcome with hope. His heart swelled as she recognized him. He felt whole again.

"Jazz?"

How beautiful she sounded, even now.

"Alice."

He couldn't say anything else. He didn't need to.

Though her emotions were still unstable, he could still feel the warmth of her love for him. Even after being severed from him, bitten, held prisoner... she loved him. He felt that their love would withstand anything.

"I knew you'd come," she whispered. "You know," she continued, "you've kept me waiting a long time."

His love for her overwhelmed them as he heard those words.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," he whispered automatically, following the script.

A ghost of a smile lit up her face for an instant.

He reached for her hand and she took it slowly, carefully.

"Did they hurt you? Did Maria hurt you? I saw--Raoul--" he tried to get the words out, but his anger kept them in.

"I only saw Maria once. Raoul... has been himself, I suppose." He felt a spark of fear in her words as she mentioned his name. His grip on her hand tightened.

"He took my visions..." she confessed in a whisper, her eyes glancing at her arm, where the scar was.

"They'll come back fully soon," he explained, "slowly, in bits and pieces, but they'll be back probably by late tonight or early tomorrow. Or within a few hours."

"They try to come to me, and every time it just _hurts._ So so much... worse than with Bella with Renesmee," she told him.

He nodded and brushed his thumb across her cheekbone. "I'll try to help, if I can," he promised.

"I know you will," she said, nodding, fully appreciating him just _being_ there.

"Who else has been with you?" he asked quietly.

"Mostly Etienne or Aurelie. She's an interesting one," she finished.

His eyes scanned over her again, taking in the evident pain that she was feeling, but trying to hide from him.

"Alice, I'm so sorry. I don't think I'll ever--"

"Shh," she said, reaching her other hand up to cup his chin. "You're here, now. You came for me. That's all that matters."

He swallowed and worked again to keep his emotions in check. Her eyes met his as she spoke and he was struck by how black they were.

"Can you move?" he asked, even more concerned now, after seeing her eyes. Black as pitch. He had never seen her eyes so dark. Between her thirst and Raoul's bite...no wonder she was this weak.

She nodded and tried to get up, her knees shaking to support her tiny body.

"When did you hunt last?" he asked her urgently, taking her other hand to help her stand.

"I wouldn't drink from the humans…" she said, her voice weak.

He swallowed. She hadn't fed at all? He calculated quickly in his head. Around a month. It had been around a month since she had last hunted. It was too long.

"You mean you haven't drank anything since you and I last hunted?" Jasper demanded.

"I couldn't…he smelled amazing…I almost gave in…but then I couldn't…Jasper…they wanted me to but I couldn't let myself…I'm sorry…." she trailed off, her thoughts a bit muddled as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

He tried to stay focused. If he didn't concentrate, he would be upstairs right now, ripping Raoul and Maria apart.

He shook his head. Focus. Alice needed him. They needed to figure out what Maria wanted and then get out. He'd make time for revenge later. Right now, he needed to help his Alice.

"No need to be sorry. Ever. But you need to eat something soon, Alice…" he trailed off, remembering what it had been like when he had gone a long time without feeding; when it had started to get really bad for him when he would hunt. The emotions overwhelmed him to a point where he couldn't even finish the human he had preyed on. He had starved himself for weeks before he would snap. It was torturous to be that hungry, that weak…he knew.

"I know…" she whispered, her eyes half open. She could barely stand.

He reached then and carefully lifted her into his arms, holding her legs under one arm and supporting her upper body with his other. Her head automatically rested on his chest and he cradled her close to him.

He started with her toward the door.

"Emmett is outside the door. Edward and Jacob are outside of the house. Maria wants us to meet with her, but after we see what she wants, we're hunting," he told her.

She nodded against him.

He opened the door and met Emmett there. He felt Emmett's concern peak as he saw his sister, but Alice gave him a small smile. "Hey Em. Thanks for coming," she whispered.

"Well, someone had to keep Jasper in line, you know..." he said, trying to lighten the situation.

She smiled and nodded again before putting her hand against Jasper's chest. "I want to walk," she said quietly.

He obeyed, even though he didn't want to. He understood why-- she didn't want Maria and Raoul to see her weakness.

He didn't need to say anything. He knew she could feel it all.

_I love you, too_, her emotions seemed to tell him.

He held onto that feeling of love as they went upstairs to meet with Maria. Emmett stood behind them, Jasper in front, and Alice sandwiched between the two of them. They had an unspoken understanding that she would stay between the two of them at all times, for protection, just in case.

They went up the stairs, down the hall, and to a room where Maria was seated, waiting patiently for them. To her left, stood Aurelie and Etienne. To her right, Raoul.

Jasper ignored Raoul as they came in, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold himself back if he acknowledged him. Instead, he focused solely on what Alice was feeling and what Maria was doing.

"She needs blood," Jasper said to Maria. "I'd appreciate if you'd let us leave shortly, so she can get it."

"I _tried_ to be as accommodating as possible, Jasper. Ask her. We brought her a human, but she's a little picky..." Maria said, her tone light and casual.

He took in a deep breath. "Just... what do you want?" he asked quickly. He wanted to know why she brought them there. He wanted to know the meaning behind everything. He wanted to kill them all. But most of all, he wanted to get Alice as far away from them as possible. He wanted to get her to a place where she could hunt. He wanted to see her topaz eyes shining and warm, not the dull and cold black that they had become.

Maria went to speak, but Raoul stepped forward, causing Alice to flinch into Jasper, away from Raoul.

"Jasper, don't you think you're being a little rude, jumping into business. I'd think you'd like to play a little game of catch-up, no?"

Jasper noticed that Alice had flinched into him, and he had felt another spark of fear as he had moved. The fact that someone could instill that kind of fear in her so quickly made him furious.

"He won't hurt you, darlin'. I promise you. I won't let him touch you again," he told her, ignoring Raoul.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Jasper. I'm liking these visions... and I liked her taste, too," Raoul taunted.

A low growl rumbled in his chest as he set his eyes on him.

"Definitely top five," Raoul finished with a smirk.

Jasper lunged at him, Emmett following close behind to try to pull him back.

"Jasper!" Alice whispered.

Raoul and Jasper fought for a bit, both a tad rusty when it came to fighting each other. But within seconds, between Aurelie and Etienne, they managed to get Raoul away from Jasper. Emmett took Jasper around the chest and pulled him back away from Raoul. Neither had managed to get any bites in.

"Boys, boys, boys. There will be plenty of time for snide remarks later, all right?" Maria said, smoothing her hair, her smile amused.

"I swear to you, if you ever touch her again, you _will_ answer to me," Jasper growled, his voice deep.

Raoul smirked again, but said nothing this time.

Maria sighed. "Oh, how I've missed these times. But anyway, Jasper. I understand that you want Alice to eat. I want her to eat, too. It's no fun when we're dying of thirst, is it?"

Alice grabbed Jasper's hand, pain rushing through her as another vision was blocked, intercepted by Raoul, whose eyes went blank next to Maria.

She squeezed his hand tightly and shut her eyes, waiting for the stabbing pain in her head to pass. He sent all of the calming feelings that he could manage in this situation to her. If she wasn't holding on to him, he was certain that he would've lunged at Raoul again.

"So let me just cut to the chase," Maria continued, her eyes dancing. "I bet you're wondering why I lured you here."

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**Author's Note: Sooo I'm really really busy now that classes have started, but I promise you that I will still be writing this story. Bear with me! I have sooo many ideas that I still have to incorporate. And some revised ideas and twists, thanks to JustOnePogostick! So stick with it-- the story continues. =)**

**Anyway, how did you like their reunion? I'm happy they're back together, even if Maria's still around...**

**I love love love reviews! Please share your thoughts on the chapter/story... good or bad, I appreciate'em!**

**And PS--I'll be responding to your reviews from the last chapter in a few hours. I just wanted to post this for you, first. Hope you liked it! Please Review!  
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	10. Trapped

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**You are all so amazing. Without further delay, another longer one for you...  
**

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_"I know nothing of your kind...your evil mind...is it over yet? I can't win...." --Breaking Benjamin_

"I need your help," Maria started, looking at Jasper. The pain from the vision that Raoul stole from Alice was just starting to subside a little. She squinted at Maria through the black dots that had been blinking in front of her eyes.

"What help could you possible need?" Jasper spat, his eyes narrowing. Alice squeezed his hand, trying to keep him calm.

She smiled, "Well, you should feel honored. I couldn't think of any other way to do this except with your help. See, I have enough southern territory that I'm just fighting for fun now. None of my army will ever starve. I'm well respected. I've made quite a name for myself. But no one is _ever_ happy, right, Jasper?" Maria asked, cocking her perfect right eyebrow.

"I suppose," Jasper whispered, answering only because she had questioned him directly.

"So, when people aren't happy, they get angry. They do stupid things. Sometimes they leave, as you would know from experience. But sometimes, when they leave, they take things that belong to me with them. You didn't do that, but Etienne's brother, Luc... he did," she smirked and turned to Etienne. "Isn't that right, Etienne?"

Etienne nodded, "Oui. C'est vrai." Yes. That's true.

"So Luc left and it pissed you off. What do you want from Jasper?" Emmett spat out.

Alice loved her brother's bluntness. Despite the lingering pain in her head, she smiled at his bravery.

Maria was impressed with Emmett. She smiled and continued. "When Luc left, he took some of my army with him. They went north, to New York City, and have been living among the humans there. They feed on them. They have control of the city because it is so large that no one notices when a few humans go missing or turn up dead. So I want Luc destroyed for leaving me and I want New York," she said matter of factly.

"That still doesn't explain why you need me, Maria," Jasper said in a low voice.

"Patience, my dear Jasper," she said before explaining. "Luc is smart. And he has a gift. He can virtually make himself disappear. Not invisibility... but just so that no one can recall where he is. He can hide. Etienne is one of the best trackers I have, and he can't find him. No one can. No one knows where he is hiding. That is where you and Alice come in."

Alice perked at the sound of her name. Jasper seemed to, too.

"I want Alice's visions to tell us where Luc is and what his next move is. And I want your skills and your gift to help when we go to New York. I need you to keep everyone calm so that they stay under control and don't attack every human that they come across in the city. Then, when we get to Luc, I need you to keep him calm so that I can kill him... partner up like we used to in the good ole' days. What do you say?" she said, her eyes lighting up at the thought.

"I say no," Jasper said stiffly. "I don't fight anymore and Alice isn't going to start."

"Ah, but it is just for this one battle. You may go, after Alice has found him and after you've helped me take him down. He's stealthy... you're my best option," she explained. "Of course, if you'd like to stay with me after, you're both welcome to do that as well," she added quickly, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"No," Jasper said again, more forcefully. Alice could tell that he was trying to stay under control. "We don't fight."

"That's not what I've heard," Maria said, shaking her finger. "Don't lie to me, please. I hear that you fought an army of newborns out of Seattle just in the past decade or two. And from what my source tells me, Jasper Whitlock has not grown rusty over time," she said, eyeing him with a sly grin.

Alice could feel his rage seeping out, but he struggled to stay calm. Mainly for her, she knew.

"No," he said again, "we aren't doing it. We do not fight. We're leaving now. Goodbye, Maria."

They turned to leave and Maria cleared her throat. "If you care at all about your family, I wouldn't leave just yet."

Alice whipped around swiftly, followed by Jasper and Emmett. The three stared at her.

"I thought that would get your attention," she said slyly. Alice noticed Raoul smirking as Aurelie looked at the ground.

Maria looked over at Etienne. Etienne cleared his throat and two others joined them in the room; a man with blonde hair and a woman with rusty red hair and freckles.

"What is the latest, Cheyenne?" Etienne asked the red-haired woman, his voice cold.

Cheyenne's face remained blank, professional. "They are ready to destroy the Cullens at a moments notice, sir." Her voice was as blank as her face; almost robotic.

Alice stiffened and Jasper's grip on her hand became even tighter.

"You're bluffing," Emmett said, shaking his head.

Etienne smirked and nodded at Cheyenne, who, half a second later, had her cell phone out and ringing on speakerphone. Alice doubted that the use of speakerphone was necessary-- they could have all heard without it-- but she listened warily.

A man answered the phone, saying, "Is it time?"

"No. Stay patient. But tell me what they are doing," Etienne said sharply.

The voice on the phone spoke again. "The leader, Carlisle, is very still. He and his mate stand at the window, looking over their property. Every so often, she puts a hand on his arm and he smiles at her. But they haven't moved from the window in hours."

Alice would've sworn right then that she understood the meaning of "blood running cold." She let out a rush of breath and looked to Jasper, who was watching the phone intently.

The voice continued. "Bella and her half human daughter sit outside with the beautiful blonde they call Rosalie. I've never seen anything like her," he admitted.

Alice wasn't sure if he meant Nessie or Rose, but she felt like she was spinning. Emmett growled next to her.

"Is that all?" Etienne asked, seeming bored.

"No. There is a boy. I'm not sure who he is, but he smells strange. They call him Seth and they appear to be on good terms, but I haven't figured out his relationship to them yet. He is not one of us..."

As the voice said this, Alice noticed, just as much as Jasper, the confusion in the room escalate. They didn't know about the wolves...

"Anything else we need to know?" Etienne tried to finish.

"The daughter... the half human. She smells strange, too, but a different type. I'm very curious about her. I was thinking of bringing her back with me, actually..." he said suggestively.

Alice made a noise in her throat and Jasper gripped her hand, willing her not to move. Emmett put a hand on her shoulder; whether to steady her, hold her back, or hold himself back, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that they could not take Renesmee. It was more dangerous for her than for any of them; she had human blood in her.

Maria looked amused at the group's reaction. She spoke.

"That will be all for now, then. Wait for the call," she said clearly.

The woman--Cheyenne--snapped her phone shut, cutting off the connection.

Maria smirked at their surprise. Alice felt Jasper's anger and guilt. She knew he was blaming himself for not thinking about the Cullens. Besides herself and his thirst, the Cullens were his only other weakness when it came to his enemies.

"Still want to leave? He is on Chey's speed dial and is very excited to do what I want. He hasn't eaten in a few days, see, and knows he will be allowed once he completes his mission..." she hinted.

Alice couldn't help the despair that was leaking into her emotions. Her throat was burning with thirst; her whole body ached for blood. Her head was still hurting from the visions that Raoul was stealing from her. And now, her family was in danger and they didn't even know it. There was no one there to help them if Maria's followers attacked; they were vastly outnumbered. And Renesmee...

Alice knew by Jasper's body language that he could feel her despair and worry, too. He grimaced and shook his head. "I'm not playing games, Maria. No. We're not fighting with you because you're threatening us."

She shrugged, "Okay. Sorry to hear it," she said simply, motioning to Cheyenne.

Cheyenne flipped the phone open and Alice stepped forward quickly, as if her feet were moving of their own volition. "No! No. If we help you, you'll leave them alone?" she asked, her dark eyes burning with determination.

"Alice, no..." Jasper started.

Maria smiled sweetly at her. "Of course. They are of no use to me after we have your help. I'd have no reason to kill them."

Jasper was sending so many emotions her way, as if begging her not to trust Maria.

She ignored them and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing that Raoul hadn't taken her visions. She needed to see if this was what she was supposed to do...

Jasper's concern amplified and she swiftly looked up at him. His honey colored eyes were full of defeat. She hated that look.

"Fine," she whispered, "we'll help you. But as soon as it's over, we're gone and our family is safe again."

An amused noise came from Raoul; almost like a chuckle. Alice flinched at the sound.

"No," Jasper said clearly, loudly, stepping forward to stand next to Alice. "I'm not doing this again. And Alice is not fighting with you," he told Maria, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Emmett stepped forward too, in case Jasper or Alice needed him.

Maria smirked and came closer to stand in front of Jasper. "You've softened a lot in these years away from me, Jay. I would have never believed it possible," she said softly, as if pondering.

Alice watched as Maria reached to run her fingers across a deep scar on his wrist. A scar that Alice knew that she had put there and used to torture him many times since.

Jasper stiffened at her touch, but a part of him knew not to pull away. Alice's heart broke as she realized that Maria still had minor control over that tiny part of him, even after all of these years. She _hated_ Maria for it. She couldn't help what happened next.

"Don't touch him," Alice whispered, her high, sweet voice now menacing. She reached her hand out and pushed Maria's hand from Jasper's wrist.

Time stopped. The whole room watched Maria anxiously, curiously. Some were amused, others were frightened. No one knew what would happen next because no one had ever spoken to Maria that way.

Jasper's eyes widened as much as Maria's. His body was tensed, ready to protect Alice at the slightest indication that Maria was going to hurt her.

Alice stared Maria down, her black eyes only added to the dark, threatening vibe that she was fully giving off by her stance. Maria had taken her from her family, threatened her family, and was now trying to resurrect her sick control over Jasper again. Alice had not had any say in what happened in the past, and the future was unclear to her at the moment, but the present was all hers.

Maria stared at Alice as if judging her. Her hand remained just inches away from Jasper, where Alice's push had moved it. She was entirely still, only her eyes moving as she scrutinized Alice.

Then, she surprised everyone by laughing. She let out a chuckle. And then another. And then she just started _laughing_.

No one joined.

Alice's gaze did not waver, even as she felt another vision creeping into her. She braced herself for the pain as Maria spoke clearly, looking Alice in the eye.

"I told you that we are more alike than you think," was all she said. Then, she smirked and nodded to Jasper. "I see why you chose her," she said, almost as if to taunt him with the knowledge that Maria felt that Alice was like her.

Alice couldn't find the strength to be angry at her for that right now. She bit her lip, very human-like, as Raoul looked at her with a taunting smile. She didn't meet his eyes as he started to receive the vision.

"Jasper," she whispered, the pain evident in her voice, though she tried to hide it. "Jazz, please..."

Jasper's head whipped to look at her. He tried to muster up any calm feelings that he had to send to her, but some of his concern slipped in as well.

He was torn. His gaze went from Alice to Maria, totally opposite emotions flaring in him when he switched who he was looking at.

Emmett put both of his large hands on Alice's tiny shoulders, trying to support her as he realized that Raoul was stealing another vision from her as they spoke.

Her hand trailed up to squeeze his fingers gratefully.

Jasper growled at Maria and shook his head. "Alice will tell you where he is up until you have found him. Then, she will go back to our family and you will call off your guard over them. She will not come to New York with us," he finally amended, his voice emotionless.

Before Alice could protest, Maria nodded. "Done. But we train her anyway, just in case she changes her mind."

"She won't," he whispered dangerously.

"Why don't you let her speak for herself?" Maria asked with a smirk. "As we've seen, she isn't afraid to speak her mind. Tell me, dear Alice. What do you want to do?"

Maria looked at Alice, and then at Raoul, almost as if she was threatening her with his presence. Alice noticed that Aurelie had slipped out.

"I know some already," Alice managed to say through the pain, "I could brush up just in case... if it helps keep my family safe." The last word was barely audible as she struggled to stay strong.

"Sound good, Jasper?" Maria asked with a smirk. Alice noticed that she moved to touch him again, but then stopped suddenly. The slightest feeling of accomplishment and relief fluttered through her. Maria had listened to her.

Jasper nodded slowly, staring her down, his eyes dangerous.

"Perfect!" Maria exclaimed, her eyes dancing, "Consider it settled, then. Alice doesn't fight in New York unless she wants to. Until then, we'll wait for her visions to return and then we'll plan from there."

Maria stole another glance at Raoul and Alice swallowed hard. She wondered briefly if Maria would ask Raoul to bite her again, so that they would have her visions when they were in New York without her.

She would have to speak to Jasper about it later. She didn't want him going there alone with them and she didn't want Raoul taking her visions again. But she knew now was not the time... they would speak of everything later.

Jasper stepped back to Alice and stood at her side, his thick concern for her coming off of him in waves.

Raoul's vision ended and Alice felt her head clear considerably. There was a creak outside of the door and Maria smiled. "Perfect timing."

The door opened, and Aurelie walked in with the man that had been with Cheyenne earlier. They each led two humans in with them.

_What?_ Alice's mind raced. It didn't make sense. Why were they feeding now?

"It is time for all of us to eat, now, Alice," Maria said, as if she anticipated her confusion. "Our meeting is over."

"Let's go," Emmett said forcefully, anticipating the chaos that was sure to ensue. His grip on Alice's shoulder tightened.

"We have more coming, if you'd like some, too," Maria offered, her voice cold. "How long has it been since she's let you taste real blood, Jasper?"

Jasper shook his head and stepped closer to Alice, ignoring Maria. He nodded at Emmett, agreeing with him. "Now."

Raoul seemed to like to play with his food before he consumed it. He swiped at his human's neck, letting the blood trickle down the human's skin.

The smell hit her hard, before she could hold her breath. She almost drowned in the venom that pooled in her mouth. All she could hear was the beat of it's heart, the pulse of it's blood. All she could see was the red. All she could smell was the sweetness. The savory, warm liquid that would sate her thirst in seconds. She was too thirsty to be able to think. Too weak to be able to pull herself back.

She lunged out of Emmett's grip and at the human that Raoul was holding.

Jasper was able to think for her. He crashed into her, folding his arms around her tightly as they fell to the ground. He pulled her close into him.

She fought against her love, her mind focused only on one thing. Blood. Thirst. Self-preservation. He was _keeping_ her from it. Did he _want_ her to starve?

"Alice, Alice, focus, darlin'," he spoke quickly, his words fluttering from his lips.

She growled, her eyes wide, as she thrashed, trying to get to the human. She was too far gone to even notice Raoul's amusement. He was very happy with himself.

The human cried out, and it only made her want him more. She struggled against Jasper. Wasn't he supposed to help her? Didn't _he_ like their blood too? Why wasn't he letting her drink?

"Alice, love. Come back to me. Focus," he pleaded, his grip tightening on her. Between he and Emmett, they managed to carry her outside of the room. Emmett shut the door.

Alice's fighting soon turned to shaking as the scent of the blood left her senses. Instead of Jasper squeezing her tighter into himself, she tightened her arms around his neck. "Don't let go," she whispered, her mind slowly understanding what was happening. She still didn't know if she could prevent herself from sprinting back into the room.

"I won't," he whispered, holding her against him. He stroked her hair as she buried her face into his shoulder, trying to take in only his essence. She was full of gratefulness to him. He had saved her from acting on impulse, from doing something that she would have regretted whole-heartedly the second her thirst had been quenched.

Emmett was breathing heavily with anger. She felt Jasper nod. "That is typical of them. I should have suspected. I should have been more prepared." He answered a question that Alice had not heard.

"It's all a control thing," Emmett muttered, disgusted.

Jasper nodded again, "Maria knew she was too weak to resist. And she was probably angry that Alice had stood up to her."

Alice felt a sweet-smelling draft pass by them, the door to the room opening and then closing. Her death grip on Jasper tightened, acting as her life line.

"Everything under control?" Alice heard Maria ask.

Jasper held on to Alice reassuringly, using her goodness and love for him against the evil, jealousy, and lust that Maria was sending out.

"Fine," he said shortly.

Alice slid down from Jasper's arms, so that she was standing now, instead of him holding her. She kept her arms around his waist, though, holding on for dear life as Jasper kept his arms around her shoulders supportively.

"Go get something to eat now, dear. You look terrible," Maria ordered Alice, false sympathy ringing clear in her voice.

Jasper was fuming. He said nothing and tugged at her a little, his emotions questioning if she was okay to walk on her own.

She nodded against him, answering both he and Maria at the same time. Keeping one arm around his waist, they turned together, Emmett following behind them, protecting them from Maria and Alice from herself.

"Oh and one more thing to keep in mind?" Maria said as they slowed to hear her. "You might want to make sure that you're back within the hour. Otherwise, I might assume that you've run off... and then you might assume that you'll have no family left to run off to."

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**Author's Note: So now we know what is Maria's motivation... and Jasper and Alice are stuck. We didn't have a lot of interaction with Raoul and Aurelie this chapter, but there is still something brewing there... creepyyyy.**

**So thank you all, once more, for the seriously awesome response to the last chapter and to the story as a whole. You have all put a huge grin on my face with your fantastic reviews. It's been a really hectic week, so they've definitely done a lot for me this week. _Thank you_ so much.**

**As always, the feedback, good or bad, is highly appreciated. Please continue to Review! =)  
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	11. Captivated

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**I love you all. Another longer one. Enjoy.  
**

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_"...hold me darling, cause I'm scared and I can't do this alone..." --The Legion of Doom._

When they got outside, Edward and Jacob were waiting anxiously in some trees nearby. They were by their side in a mere second.

Jacob, in human form now, threw his arms around Alice and squeezed her into him. He didn't care that she smelled sickly sweet to him; he had gotten over it years ago. Alice was his friend... he was closer to her than probably any other vampire except Bella.

"Careful," Jasper warned, his voice low.

Jacob pulled back and looked at her. Jasper could feel Jake's deep, genuine concern for Alice.

"What'd they do to you? I swear, we'll rip them apart..." he growled, voicing Jasper's thoughts exactly.

Edward couldn't help but be amused by that, but Jasper felt his concern peak as he read Alice's thoughts.

_Edward. She has to eat. How much did you hear?_ he thought to him.

Edward shook his head, his confusion evident. Apparently, he hadn't been able to hear much.

Alice smiled at Jacob, appreciating his concern, and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Long story. I need to hunt first, Jake," she admitted.

Jacob looked at her dark eyes and nodded. "Well don't just stand here, then. We'll be here when you're done. Go!" he encouraged.

She looked up at Jasper and he nodded. "Emmett, bring them up to speed with what's happened. We'll be back shortly to discuss our next move," Jasper told him.

Alice hugged Jacob again and then did the same to Edward. "Thanks for coming for me," she said quickly.

Jasper was relieved to feel that when she was away from Maria and Raoul, Alice's emotions were starting to feel like _her_ again. She was still hurting, and incredibly thirsty, but she just... felt more like Alice.

"Let's hunt," Jasper said, taking her hand as they sprinted into the surrounding trees.

-~-~-~-

"Let's hunt," Alice said, taking his hand as they sprinted away from the diner, too fast to be noticed by the surrounding humans.

He followed her blindly, on emotion alone. He had never felt anything like her. He was wary to trust her at first, but the second her hand touched his, he had been overwhelmed. The feeling was so great, so powerful, so _real_... it was like nothing he had ever felt before. He was forced to follow her, craving the new feeling that she was emanating. He wanted to feel it, too. _Needed_ to feel it, too.

"Where are we going?" he managed to stutter as they made their way away from the city, away from houses, and into a wooded area.

"You need to hunt. I could go for something, too. Better safe than sorry," she explained so quickly that her voice seemed to be fluttering. She stole a glance back at him and her excitement escalated.

Her emotions were making him dizzy. She was ecstatic, nervous, excited, and at peace all at once, on the surface.

When he dug deeper, he felt that she was lonely, but full of love. She was aching, but full of hope. And this was all at once. She felt all of this at the same time. It left him speechless.

He wanted to calm her down, just to put himself at ease. But then there was a part of him that was intrigued. He had never felt someone who could feel so much so deeply.

As she led him deeper into the woods, he stopped suddenly and she sighed and stopped with him.

She grinned at him, almost knowingly. Her face was glowing, and he was once again struck by how beautiful she was. This was no ordinary, typical vampire attractiveness. No. Whoever she was, she had always had that beauty.

Any suspicion that was building in him seemed to disappear when she smiled. But he couldn't suppress what his gut was telling him. He had lived in an atmosphere of betrayal and lies for a long time. It was difficult to trust her. But he _wanted_ to... God, did he want to...

"Wait," he said, trying to gather his thoughts together. He tried to think coherently in the sea of emotions that she was engulfing him in.

"Okay," she agreed, her eyes shining as she stared at him. Why was she staring?

He was getting frustrated by her amusement, now.

"What are you staring at?" he finally asked, his voice a bit rough.

Her positive emotions did not waver. She was not surprised by his reaction. This made him even more fascinated by her, but at the same time, it frustrated him. She was not acting how he expected. He was usually so good at reading people, at predicting their next move. With her, it was difficult. Almost impossible. She kept doing the opposite of what he expected... _feeling_ the opposite. He wasn't used to this, and it both shocked and delighted him at the same time.

"You. I'm waiting for you," she chirped simply.

"Why?"

"Because you asked me to?" she answered, her voice sounding more uncertain than her emotions. It was as if she was just playing along to some script.

He _had_ asked her to wait. But why was she looking at him like that? She was taking in his appearance, his scars, his body... and instead of being afraid, or disgusted, she was _happy_. He even felt a spark of desire from her, though she covered it quickly. It blended back in with the warmth that was emanating from her...the same warmth that overwhelmed him when she touched him.

He shook his head. "Who _are_ you?"

She skipped forward and he flinched automatically. He posed defensively, but she stopped in front of him and looked up at him curiously.

"I'm Alice," she stated, her eyes wide. He noticed they were strange... liquid gold, rather than red or black.

"Why do your eyes look like that?" he asked her, his defenses unraveling as she put both of her hands on his arms. He felt so relaxed by her touch... so uplifted by the hope and love that was in her. It was so pure, so real... he couldn't _not_ trust her. He had never felt someone so genuine before.

"I drink from animals, not humans. How'd you get the scars, Jazz?" she asked all in the same breath, not missing a beat. Her curiosity became the dominant emotion.

He stared down at her, totally captivated by her essence. Normally, he would have attacked and destroyed any newborn who brought up his scars. Maria had even encouraged it...

But he couldn't do that to her. Her face was so honest and her emotions so raw that he felt it would be the darkest kind of sin if he ever did anything to hurt her.

"Bites. I fought a lot, in the wars in the south. For a long time," he managed to speak, still entranced by her. "How do you know my name?"

Her eyes lit up with understanding, not pity. She nodded and smiled. "I wondered for a long time," she admitted. "And I know your name because I know you... I saw you, I mean," she said.

Her answer just led to more questions. How long had she been watching him? What did that mean, anyway? Who _was_ this woman and why did he have such a burning desire to find out?

She perked up and focused on something above them. "A squirrel or two will due for me. I just hunted yesterday. You'll probably need to find a buck or a few deer," she changed the subject rapidly, but smoothly.

"Animals?" he questioned. Was that even possible? He had never thought about it before...

She grinned and nodded, her eyes so knowing, so trusting. How come she trusted him so much? Especially if she knew him, as she said she did? Why did she feel so at peace around him? She seemed to like him... he even dared to think that she loved him, because what she was feeling was the most amazing thing he had felt to date. What else could that be, but love? But how could she love him...? Especially being that she had just met him?

He watched her, totally hypnotized by the way she moved. She was stealthy and quick and very tiny. He could see her shoulder blades shifting as she sprung into the tree, leaped from branches, and finally jumped down next to him, holding two squirrels in her hands.

"Here," she said, offering one to him.

"I can hunt, you know," he told her, but he immediately regretted the words as soon as they had left his mouth. She had been nothing but good to him thus far.

She wasn't effected by his attitude, though. "I know," she answered, "try it, though."

He took the squirrel from her and watched as she first killed it, and then drank from it. She made it look so easy... so natural...

"You killed it first," he stated. He meant for it to be a question.

"Yeah," she said, "I feel cruel if I don't."

He mimicked her motions and drank from his own animal. It tasted bland... nothing like humans... but there were also no nagging feelings of despair or regret or fear as he drank. Though it was not human blood, he found that it worked. He was still thirsty, but not as much as before.

He looked at her again, and saw that she was watching him, still full of excitement. She knew that he was impressed by her. She knew that he wasn't going to hurt her. And she knew that he was beginning to trust her. How, he didn't know. But he felt her confidence.

She stepped forward again and this time, he didn't flinch. She then reached her hand up to touch the dark purple circles under his eyes.

His breath hitched at her touch, it was so... _good..._

"Do you want some more?"

Whether she meant more animal blood or more time with her, he wasn't certain. But right now, he wanted both.

-~-~-~-

"Do you want some more?" Jasper asked her after she had finished a few deer and a coyote.

She smiled at him, her eyes gold again. He couldn't help the relief that flooded him when he saw her golden eyes again. No other color eyes seemed to be good enough for her. When her eyes were red, they were full of guilt and disappointment, and when they were black, they were hungry and colder. None of those four emotions fit Alice. He never wanted her to feel guilty, disappointed, hungry, or cold. He liked when she was warm and happy, just like her topaz eyes.

"I'm good," she nodded. "I feel full again. I feel... a _lot_ stronger," she told him.

"Good," he breathed before grabbing her roughly and pulling him closer to her. She folded herself into him naturally, getting as close to him as she possibly could right then.

"Why are you afraid?" Alice whispered into him. She knew him.

"Because I need to protect you and Maria is the only one that makes that difficult for me," he told her honestly.

She tilted her head up and kissed his lips urgently, trying to pull the fear from his mouth and make it go away.

"And the guilt?" she asked, feeling it stronger after kissing him.

"It's my fault you're here and it's my fault our family is in danger. It's my fault that he bit you and stole your visions and it's my fault that Maria is forcing us into fighting with her again. If it weren't for me, none of this would have happened. You'd be safe. The Cullens would be safe. You wouldn't be hurting--"

She cut him off by pressing her lips to his again. She kissed him wildly, desperate to make the guilt disappear from his emotions.

She didn't stop until she felt that his love and appreciation for her was stronger than his guilt.

"We're together now, Jasper. Separate, they can hurt us. But as long as we're together, we'll be okay. Always," she told him fervidly.

He clung to her unwavering hope as she took his hand. Together, they headed back to meet with Edward, Emmett, and Jacob.

By the time they got back to them, Jasper had everything planned out.

"Feeling better, hun?" Jacob asked Alice, squeezing her tightly into his side.

She literally felt him blocking a vision that had been threatening to spill over. One that she knew Raoul would still be intercepting the minute she felt it coming on.

"Much. Thank you," she said, leaning into him. She was relieved, for the first time since Bella had been pregnant, for the wolf's ability to block the visions from her.

"What's going on, Jasper? What do you need from us? Emmett filled us in..." Edward started.

Jasper spoke immediately. Quickly. They only had about fifteen more minutes before they were due back to Maria. He wasn't taking any chances with what she would do if they weren't prompt. She was brutal and conniving, but when she threatened, she always came through.

"Edward, you'll head home alone. Casually warn them to be on the defensive. Don't let on that you all know that she has spies waiting. Act as natural as possible," he started.

"I want to go with him," Emmett said seriously. "I need to get to Rose."

Jasper shook his head. "Maria has already seen you... she has talked to you. She'll know if you leave. You're stuck here," he said bitterly, but honestly.

Emmett nodded, knowing he was right, and said nothing.

"She'll be okay, Emmett. I promise you," Edward vowed, reading Emmett's thoughts.

"Jacob, I know you want to get home to Nessie, but I have to ask you to stay here until Edward gets home. You're our communication... when he gets there, he'll tell Seth, and then Seth will tell you. Once we know he has made it back safely, you can do whatever you wish. You can stay here, or you can go. I won't dictate rules unless it's absolutely necessary," Jasper told him.

Jacob nodded, "I'll stay out here. They won't know I'm here. What do you want me to do if someone comes by?"

"If they don't notice you, then nothing. Lay low. If they threaten you, do whatever you need to do to protect yourself. And then trust your instincts. If you think you'd need to run home after that, do it. If you think you can stay, then stay. I trust your judgment," Jasper told him, officially.

"We have to go back. Maria's waiting. Time is not something we have on our side right now," Jasper finished.

Alice bit her lip nervously and then wrapped her arms around Jacob, expressing her thanks without words.

She then flitted over to Edward and did the same. He read her thoughts and hugged her closer.

"You're worth it, sis. Everything will be okay," he told her seriously. He said his goodbyes to the rest of them and then disappeared into the woods.

"Back to Maria," Jasper whispered.

Alice took his hand and the two walked back with Emmett, leaving Jake to wait in the woods and keep them updated through Seth.

* * *

They made it back to Maria in good time. She greeted them with a smile.

"Feeling better, I take it, Alice?" she inquired.

"Yes, thank you," Alice told her bluntly.

"Glad to hear it. You ready for training?"

"Already?" Jasper demanded.

"Jasper, I don't want this to stretch out any longer than you do. The sooner we get everything ready, the better," Maria told him.

"So what's your plan, then?" Emmett asked her, daringly.

She smirked and indulged him.

"My plan... well. We'll spend a few days training her, perfecting her skills. Aurelie will show her defense. Jasper and Etienne will show her offense. I suspect you could help with that too, if you'd like," Maria told Emmett, eyeing his muscles.

"I expect that her visions should be coming back soon, and when they do, she'll find Luc for us. As soon as we pinpoint his position, we'll travel to New York. The rest is history," Maria replied simply.

Jasper looked at Alice, silently asking with his eyes if that was okay with her. Alice nodded and he turned back to Maria. "Fine. Where do we meet Aurelie?"

"Alice meets Aurelie down the hall. You and Emmett stay here with me and help me start planning the more... intricate details..." she said, moving closer to them.

Alice glared at her and Jasper brushed his fingers along her cheek. "Go to Aurelie, darlin'. I'll be there as soon as we're done. This shouldn't take too long."

_Don't worry. _His eyes told her. _I trust Aurelie enough._

She nodded and left swiftly to meet with Aurelie, leaving Jasper and Emmett alone with Maria.

* * *

"Are you feeling better, Alice?" Aurelie asked her when she came in.

"Fine, thanks," Alice told her coldly. Aurelie had been the one to bring the humans in earlier, tempting her. She had also been the one to leave her with Raoul before he bit her.

"I'm sorry that you were hurt," she said quietly, "Both times."

"Let's just start the training, okay?" Alice said, changing the subject. She didn't need to be friends with Aurelie. She didn't need to like her. She just needed her to do what she was supposed to.

"Oui, we will begin now," Aurelie said, accepting Alice's coldness. "When we're done, we'll practice again tomorrow before you train with Etienne."

Aurelie trained her for a few hours. Much of it was a refresher from what she had learned from Jasper over the years, but she did learn a few new moves. By the time she was done, Alice felt very accomplished.

_Edward._

_The woods._

_Bella. Edward and Bella._

_"What happened?" Bella asks._

It was snippets, but it was there. Her visions were coming back! Elated, unable to hold back her excitement, she turned and grinned at Aurelie.

"I saw. I could see again..." she told her.

Aurelie smiled, genuinely happy for her. "I'm very glad to hear it," she told her.

"Sadly, I am not," a voice said from behind them. Raoul.

Aurelie and Alice both shrunk back from him as he entered the room.

"How is the training going?" he asked.

"She has done well," Aurelie answered immediately, "I am very pleased with our progress."

"Are you?" he questioned, moving closer to them.

Alice tried not to flinch. She stood her ground, her new strength from not starving and the fact that her visions were coming back gave her some courage.

"Oui," Aurelie responded. Yes.

"Shall we find out how well you did?" Raoul asked. He moved quickly at Alice, and she dodged him using one of the new moves.

"Maria said..." Aurelie started.

"I don't care what Maria said, Aurelie," Raoul interrupted. "I am curious as to how well you have taught her. Leave us."

"But--"

"Go!" he ordered.

Aurelie gave Alice an apologetic look and slipped out of the room.

Raoul moved again, and Alice dodged him. She watched him closely, suppressing the fear that still lingered in her.

He lunged again, and caught her around the waist, pulling her back against his cold body. "Show me how you'll get out of this in a way that will surprise me," he said softly, yet roughly into her ear.

She moved out of his grasp in the unique way that Aurelie had taught her, and he smiled deviously before trying to attack her again.

She brushed against him, but still avoided his grip.

They continued in this dance, Raoul leading, maneuvering Alice into twists and turns as she avoided his attack. She could feel him watching her.

Finally, after a few minutes of nonstop defensive movements, Raoul stopped suddenly in front of Alice.

"You have learned better than I thought," he told her.

"I'm determined," she answered, feeling braver, knowing that Jasper was nearby.

Raoul met her eyes and she felt a shift in the atmosphere. Her head felt cloudy suddenly.

"I like determination," he whispered, his breath floating over her.

She didn't respond. Her feet were frozen to her spot. Her eyes were locked with his. She couldn't make herself move.

She didn't want to.

He reached forward and brushed a strand of black hair out of her eyes before he leaned closer to her, his cheek against hers.

"You know, the topaz color is almost delightful," he said softly, his breath cold against her ear.

What was he doing? She couldn't focus. Curiosity. Intrigue. She was curious about him. She wanted to stay and find out what he was up to.

"It's almost as beautiful as you," he whispered, almost inaudibly. She wondered if she was meant to hear it.

She felt dizzy, suddenly. Breathless. Unsure. Wrong. This was wrong. This was wrong. This was...wrong?

"It's too bad that you're so pure. You could've accomplished much in the darker side of life, I think," he told her, his accent making his words even softer, flowing.

Confusion.

She had seen glimpses of the darker side of life.

Through Jasper's stories of his past with Maria.

Through the yellowed papers that had told her that Mary Alice Brandon had been abandoned and put into an asylum by her family.

Through her sister, Rosalie's past story of how she was betrayed by her fiance, Royce, and then later saved and turned by Carlisle.

Through her mother, Esme's past story about how her human husband treated her.

Glimpses. But still, _some _insight.

All of the fragments of her family's past life had helped her see what the darker side of life offered. They all had one thing in common: the illusion of love. In the dark, things pretended to be love when they really weren't.

Jasper loved Alice. That was one thing of which she was certain. Why would she want to accomplish anything in the darker side of life, where his love for her could not exist?

Raoul wasn't making any sense. He was confusing her. He was making everything fuzzy. And she couldn't figure out _why._

She felt one of Raoul's hands on her hip as he pulled back to stare into her eyes again. "What do you think?"

"_I_ think that's enough training for today, Raoul," a high pitched voice said from behind them. Maria.

Alice felt a rush of warmth spread through her from her hand, clearing her foggy head slightly. She looked up and saw Jasper, who was seething with rage as he looked at Raoul. He gripped Alice's hand as Maria spoke again.

"Aurelie says she has completed defensive training. I take it you confirmed that?" Maria said, her voice sharp, authoritative. Alice noticed a fresh red scar at Maria's collarbone.

Raoul smiled casually, "Yes. She is ready for offensive training."

"Fine. Tomorrow, then. You're done for today," Maria dismissed them, gliding out of the room quickly.

Jasper stepped between Raoul and Alice, and she felt her head clearing.

"Whatever you were trying to do, don't try it again," Jasper told Raoul, his eyes blazing. Alice had never seen him so worked up at another person.

Raoul smirked. "I wasn't _trying_ to do anything."

Alice squeezed Jasper's hand, just wanting to get away from Raoul and spend the rest of her night with her family. With Jasper and Emmett.

Jasper's glare did not waver, but he backed away from Raoul slowly.

"Consider this your final warning," Jasper told him.

Alice gave Raoul a curious glance, trying to figure him out, as they left the room. He just smiled at her, as if he was pleased that he had upset Jasper so much.

She remembered that Aurelie had told her that Raoul did not like Jasper.

When they were in a spare room and out of his earshot, Jasper pulled her aside and leaned down, searching her eyes. Topaz on topaz.

"What was that feeling?" he asked her. She knew that he meant what she was feeling when Raoul had been speaking to her.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, meeting his eyes. "I was hoping you would know."

Jasper shook his head, no. "I didn't like it."

"Neither did I," Alice assured him. "It was...confusing."

He let out a rush of breath and she knew how stressed he currently was.

She folded herself into his arms and he held her tightly to him. Neither needed to speak to know that Alice was going to avoid Raoul at all costs. Or to know that they were staying beside each other no matter what.

He loved her. And she loved him. They could feel it.

They'd come out of this darkness together.

* * *

**Author's Note: Oh, Raoul. What is he up to?? What'd you think of the flashback? Sorry if things jumped around a little...I wanted to keep the pace moving smoothly, but also touch on a lot of different things.**

**Your responses to my writing just keep getting better as time goes on. I cherish every review you write me. _Thank you_. It inspires me to keep going! =)**

**I'm now on Twitter, so if you want to follow me, you might have a better sense of where I am in the writing process. And I like making new friends! Link is under Homepage on my Author Profile.**

**And I'm curious about what you thought of this chapter! Please Review and let me know! Thanks, all! =)  
**

* * *


	12. Future Hints

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**You are all amazing for waiting for me. Life's been very busy. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

_I'm choosing my confessions...trying to keep an eye on you...--R.E.M._

Jasper held Alice in his lap as she searched her visions, trying to see past Nessie's influence at home, and also looking for Luc.

As he held her, he thought of what had happened earlier, before he had discovered her with Raoul...

He didn't like being away from Alice. Not for an instant. And especially when the time away from Alice was time spent with Maria.

At least Emmett was there, too.

They spent the time planning the route to New York. Once they got to the state, they couldn't plan any further without knowing where Luc was hiding. He could be anywhere.

Jasper noticed Maria's satisfaction every time she looked at Emmett. She was sizing him up, seeing if she had any chance of bringing him over to "her" side.

He itched to tell her there wasn't a chance. Jasper was actually amused to think of what Rosalie would do if she saw the way Maria was looking at Emmett right now. Part of him started to think he should have brought Rose along, too, just for the pure enjoyment of it.

When they had finished the planning, Jasper planned to join Alice and Aurelie, but Maria asked him not to.

"Why not?" Jasper answered her, an eyebrow raised suspiciously. He payed close attention to Maria's emotions.

"You'd be a distraction to both of them. I want Alice's training to be thorough," she explained, trailing her fingers along his shoulder.

He shook her off, but her emotions did feel honest enough....

He hated the way she referred to it as "training." It was like she was training an animal or another army... like she was training someone subordinate to her.

He decided to obey her for now, though, not wanting any conflict. It would be a shaky few days, living amongst Maria and her followers. He was walking on pins and needles already, trying to keep her happy so she wouldn't decide to do something to harm them or their family. Maria was smart, but she could also be impulsive. That impulsiveness was not a good thing.

As he thought of their family, he decided to pay Jacob a quick visit to both kill time and check to see if he had heard from Seth. Jacob had tried to communicate with the Cullens earlier, but Seth had been out of wolf form, and he wasn't sure if any of the other wolves had been able to spread any word along, yet.

Jasper motioned to Emmett, and they walked down the hall to go outside. As they passed the door where Alice was practicing, Jasper could feel her emotions for a moment. She was determined. Focused. A little nervous, but for the most part, strong.

With the knowledge that she was still feeling all right keeping him strong, he walked outside and sprinted through the woods to find Jacob, Emmett close behind him.

When they met with Jacob, Jake explained that he _had_ gotten in touch with Seth.

"I told him to keep his eyes open... to warn the family that they were being watched. Rosalie wanted to just fight them off... Seth was with her, saying that our pack could help, too... but Carlisle said to wait for your instructions, since you know Maria's army better...." Jacob explained, watching Jasper intently.

Jasper nodded quickly, "I'm glad Carlisle told them to wait. Even with the wolves, I'd be wary... Maria tends to gather people who have unique gifts. Tell them to only fight if they are attacked first... and until then, do not let on that they know they are being watched. The longer we can avoid a fight, the better. I don't want anyone getting hurt... especially with Renesmee there. She's too vulnerable in this situation...." he trailed off, thinking of what they could do with her.

"No," he said again, "No attacking them first. Tell them to be on the look out for Edward, and after he gets there, maybe he can try to hear what they're thinking. We'll stay in touch and plan as we go along, but for right now, tell them to lie low," he ordered seriously, quickly.

Jacob nodded, his emotions flaring, especially at the mention of Nessie. "I understand. I'll relay the message right now," he said, popping back into wolf form.

"Jasper!"

He heard his name being called, still from quite far away. He perked up, and he and Emmett exchanged a glance.

"Jacob, go," Emmett said quietly, listening intently.

Jacob obeyed immediately, giving them a nod before running further into the woods.

"Jasper!"

They heard it again. Jasper could see Aurelie in the distance. Wasn't Alice supposed to be learning how to fight with her?

He panicked slightly and started to sprint to her, Emmett following once again.

"Aurelie?" he asked as they got closer.

Aurelie met them halfway and stood in front of him. "Jasper...he..."

"What? What is it? Is she okay?" he asked, his eyes burning. If they had hurt Alice...

"She's fine. For now. He--"

"What do you mean, _for now_?" he demanded.

"Raoul came in at the end of our lesson and wanted to practice with her and Maria told me no but Raoul decided he was going to test her skills anyway and I told Maria and she said for me to find you and that you and she would take care of it and I'm sorry Jasper I didn't want to leave her with him--"

She was rambling, her French accent making her words musical. But after he had heard that Alice was alone with Raoul, Jasper really hadn't heard anything else.

He ran away from her, running so quickly that he didn't even notice Emmett and Aurelie following behind him.

He ran until he got to the door, where Maria was waiting for him.

They didn't speak. She just followed Jasper to the room where he knew they were training. He could feel Alice, but... she wasn't feeling like she normally did. She was mostly confused, but there was something else, too. Something he couldn't recognize.

That scared him.

In an instant, he was in the door and at her side, grabbing her hand. He glared murderously at Raoul, paying attention to the strange emotion that was slowly fading from her...

Now, as he held her, he still wondered what that was. He knew that Raoul stole gifts from people... had he been using someone else's gift on her? But whose? And for what purpose? To anger Jasper? Or was there more to it?

He hated the confusion and the uncertainty that came with it.

Now, as he held her still form, he wondered what she was seeing. He wondered how what she saw would influence what their next move would be.

But mostly, he wondered if he was doing the right thing by staying here with Maria. Could Alice tolerate Maria and her plans?

Could he?

* * *

_The two men looked almost exactly alike. They weren't twins, but you could tell they were related. _

_Etienne and Luc._

_They spoke in fluent French. She translated in her head._

_"She is trying to find you. Maria has someone who can see the future looking for your future… to see where you will end up. You must make quick decisions to avoid this happening. Don't have any definite plans," Etienne said quietly, quickly.  
_

_"For how long, though? Maybe I should just let them come. You can warn me and I can prepare my followers," Luc answered, thinking._

_"She might see the warning though…"_

_Luc shook his head, "Even so… we will know to be on the look out. We now know that Maria is coming… I'll wait for you to give me a rough guess of when and then I will be alert at all times."_

_Etienne nodded, "Okay, brother. I will do what you need me to do."_

_Luc smiled, "And in return, I will make sure you get your share… and you will make your own rules instead of having to follow that bitch…."_

_Etienne ducked his head respectfully. "I thank you, Luc."_

Alice took a breath as she came out of the vision.

"What is it?" Jasper whispered. Only his lips moved.

"Etienne…."

She stopped, involuntarily gripping his hand as another vision swarmed over her.

_"You will destroy Etienne," Maria told Jasper._

_"Have Raoul do it. I refuse. This wasn't part of the plan," Jasper said stiffly._

_"Raoul is too messy. I want you to do it…" she trailed off, a smile starting to cross her face, "Or I could have Alice do it."_

_Jasper's head shot up to look at her. "No."_

_Maria's smile remained. "I think it would prove her loyalty quite nicely, actually. Don't you, Jasper?"_

_He was shaking his head. "She's not destroying him. She doesn't have to prove loyalty to you. She could get hurt."_

_"Those are not the only reasons why you're so adamant about this, though, are they Jasper?" Raoul taunted, "You're afraid she'll like it too much."_

_Jasper growled at him. "I know my Alice. She would never enjoy destroying another person."_

_"You know your Alice. You don't know the Alice that I've caught a glimpse of."_

_Jasper was fuming now. "I know her," he said again._

_Raoul smirked. "You knew her."_

_"No!"_

_Jasper and Emmett yelled at the same time._

_Jasper said it to Raoul._

_Emmett said it because after Jasper spoke, he lunged._

_Raoul and Jasper started fighting, then. This time, Maria let it happen, watching with an amused smirk as they bit and tore at each other._

_Someone had lost an arm._

Alice gasped as she came out of the vision this time.

"Alice?" Jasper whispered, rubbing her arms. He was wondering what had happened.

"Don't fight with him, Jazz. Please. It's all lies. You do know me. You're right, okay? Don't fight him," she pleaded desperately, her words blurring together.

"Who?" he asked calmly, keeping his concern under control. "What did you see, love?"

She was looking up at him now, staring into his eyes.

"Etienne is on Luc's side. I saw Luc. I saw him, but I couldn't place where he was. I can try to find it again… but Etienne is going to betray Maria…"

Jasper's brow narrowed, but he continued to listen to her.

"Maria will want you to kill Etienne. You say no, so she says she'll have me do it and you're even more against that. Raoul starts saying things, but they're not true. He's just trying to get under your skin, and he does. And you start fighting…"

Jasper thought if she could be crying, she would be right now.

"I won't fight with Raoul, Alice. Not unless he does something to hurt you," he told her, trying to reassure her with just his words.

"Promise me. Don't let his emotions change your mind. He'll lie to you. Don't believe him. Just trust me, okay? Trust me and trust yourself…." she pleaded.

He rubbed his nose against her forehead. "I trust you more than anyone else. It'll be okay."

She took in the sincerity of his words and leaned into him. "I don't want him to hurt you."

"No one's getting hurt. We're doing this and we're leaving," he promised.

They were frozen for a moment, taking in each others emotions.

"I have to tell her about Etienne, don't I?" Alice asked quietly, breaking the silence.

"Yes," Jasper answered, regret in his voice. "Yes…but I'll come too. You won't have to be alone."

Before they could make any moves, though, Etienne himself came to find them.

"Are you ready for offensive training?" he asked, taking them in.

Alice and Jasper exchanged a glance.

_Don't let on that you know about his alliance with Luc..._ Jasper's feelings and look told her.

She nodded and looked at Etienne. "I suppose now is as good a time as any."

They followed him to the same room where she had learned defensive moves. Aurelie was waiting for them.

"Maria feels that between the three of us, you will learn quickly," Aurelie told Alice.

Alice nodded and Aurelie gave her a simple smile.

Jasper and Etienne started discussing what she would learn, so Aurelie took this time to speak with Alice.

"How are your visions, if you don't mind me asking? Is your head feeling better?" she asked, her voice sounding genuinely concerned.

"Much better, thank you," she answered politely.

Aurelie sighed, as if she was sad that Alice was only speaking to her civilly.

"You know... she won't let him bite you again..." she said, her eyes wandering to Alice's elbow, where Raoul had sunk his teeth into her.

"And why is that?" Alice asked, a bit sharply. She didn't like to be rude, but Aurelie... she was too loyal to Maria for Alice to be able to fully like her.

"Parce que...well, because Jasper would kill him," Aurelie told her, as if it was obvious.

Alice let out a breath of air through her nose. It might have been a chuckle.

"Very blunt of you, Aurelie," she complimented, somewhat amused.

"It is truth, though," Aurelie confirmed with a nod.

Alice nodded, "Oh, how I know it..."

They were interrupted by Jasper and Etienne joining them again. Aurelie raised her eyebrows, but said nothing as the training began.

For the next few hours, they taught Alice everything they knew. She had already learned a lot from Jasper, so his area was familiar to her. However, she did manage to pick up some newer strategies from Aurelie and Etienne.

The whole time, she concentrated on holding back her visions. She was afraid that she would say something that would give away the fact that she knew about Etienne.

By the time they were finishing, her head had started to hurt from suppressing any visions. She waited until Aurelie and Etienne had left them, and then she came closer to Jasper before her body stiffened with another vision.

_"Have you seen Luc yet?" Maria asked her._

_"I've only seen him when he was with Etienne. Not since." Alice answered._

_"You haven't been searching hard enough," Maria said, her voice sharp._

_"She's been searching almost nonstop Maria," Jasper defended. "And when she's not searching, she's practicing how to fight with Aurelie, or she's doing something else you've asked...."_

_Maria's eyes flashed at his defense of her._

_"I want you to find him," Maria said, her tone dead serious._

_"I will," Alice whispered, feeling Jasper's hesitation and deciding not to provoke Maria._

_Maria stood in front of her now and stared at her, just slightly threatening._

_"I know you will. Or Raoul will for you."_

Jasper was holding her hand and staring at her. She knew he had felt her fear spark towards the end of the vision.

She decided not to mention it to him just yet.

"We do tell Maria," she said instead. The only time Etienne had been mentioned in her vision was when Alice was explaining about the vision about Luc and Etienne. She took that to mean that they told Maria about Etienne's near-future betrayal.

Jasper just nodded, his emotions torn. Finally, he said, "All right. Let's tell her now and get it over with, then."

As if on cue, they heard quick, light footsteps approaching.

The two looked up at the same time, seeing Maria heading toward them with an interested smile on her face.

"Tell me what?"

* * *

**Author's Note: This was really hard to write. I want to get on to the future, but I have to write this part before we can go there... so I'm trying to be disciplined and write what needs to be written haha.**

**I didn't get to do review replies because I figured you'd want an update instead. But please know that all of your feedback is inspiring. ****It helps keep me motivated to write more for you. =) _Thank you thank you thank you _a million times _thank you!_**

**And you all enjoyed the flashback from the last chapter--I enjoyed writing it, so I'm glad you liked it too!  
**

**Also, *fun surprise* I have a link to a character collage from _Frayed_ on my author page now. Here it is again: http://i35[dot]tinypic[dot]com/2heeixx[dot]jpg ... just replace the "[dot]s" with "." and you're set! Take a look and let me know what you think of them. And of the chapter. **

**All feedback is appreciated ;). Please Review!  
**

* * *


	13. Answers

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything you recognize from this amazing Twilight universe.**

**It's been two months, I know. School caught up to me. Butttt**

**Happy Holidays!**

**I'm on break for a month now, so I'm trying to get back to semi-regular updates. **

**Enjoy =).  
**

* * *

Previously:

_"Don't fight with him, Jazz. Please. It's all lies. You do know me. You're right, okay? Don't fight him," she pleaded desperately, her words blurring together._

_"Who?" he asked calmly, keeping his concern under control. "What did you see, love?"_

_She was looking up at him now, staring into his eyes._

_"Etienne is on Luc's side. I saw Luc. I saw him, but I couldn't place where he was. I can try to find it again… but Etienne is going to betray Maria…"_

- * - * - * -

_"You know... she won't let him bite you again..." she said, her eyes wandering to Alice's elbow, where Raoul had sunk his teeth into her._

_"And why is that?" Alice asked, a bit sharply. She didn't like to be rude, but Aurelie... she was too loyal to Maria for Alice to be able to fully like her._

_"Parce que...well, because Jasper would kill him," Aurelie told her, as if it was obvious._

- * - * - * -

_"We do tell Maria," she said instead. The only time Etienne had been mentioned in her vision was when Alice was explaining about the vision about Luc and Etienne. She took that to mean that they told Maria about Etienne's near-future betrayal._

_Jasper just nodded, his emotions torn. Finally, he said, "All right. Let's tell her now and get it over with, then."_

_As if on cue, they heard quick, light footsteps approaching._

_The two looked up at the same time, seeing Maria heading toward them with an interested smile on her face._

_"Tell me what?"_

* * *

_"I hear the thunder come rumbling, the light never looked so dim. I see the junction get nearer and danger's in the wind ...and either road's looking grim."_--The Hollies

_I.  
Un [One]_

_I know you are watching.  
I know you are watching.  
I know you are watching.  
I know you are watching.  
_

Jasper felt Alice's emotions swirl next to him as she debated on whether or not she should tell Maria.

But he knew that she had to. She knew that she had to.

"Etienne," Alice whispered. "IsawhimwithLucandhe'sgoingtobetrayyou."

She said it so quickly that the words hummed together into one long one.

Jasper felt Maria's interest perk. Instead of being unhappy, she felt... excited. Furious. Enraged. But... there was a thrilling feeling that Jasper noticed in her that made him step closer to Alice, protecting her.

"He is, is he?" Maria said, more to herself. "And you saw this?"

Alice nodded and Maria was suddenly right in front of them. Jasper stepped between Alice and Maria.

Maria smiled up at him. "I'm just talking to her, Jasper. Calm yourself."

She peered around Jasper to speak to Alice.

"In this vision, did you see where Luc was?"

"No," Alice said quietly, but strongly. "I couldn't tell where they were."

Maria nodded. "So what am I going to do to him?" she asked, obviously amused by Alice's gift.

There was a pause.

"You want him destroyed." She chose her words carefully, not wanting anything that she said to push Maria into ordering Jasper to be the destroyer.

Maria's smile was haunting. Chilling.

"Good girl."

* * *

_II.  
Deux [Two]  
I welcome you  
I welcome you  
I welcome you  
_

Maria called them all to the main room again. Jasper could feel that everyone except Etienne knew what was going on. Their emotions ranged from hesitant to excited, apathetic to full out ready to do the destroying themselves. All together, she had called around twenty five of them to gather in that room.

Word had spread quickly.

Alice stood with Emmett and Jasper on either side of her. The three were off to the side of the room; present, but not involved.

"I'm going to get straight to the point because I'm in the middle of something far more important," Maria started, speaking clearly and casually.

She snapped her fingers, and a second later, Etienne was being held in front of her by two from her army. It was not necessary to have Jasper's gift to sense Etienne's confusion.

"What is this?" he whispered, his eyes set on Maria.

She gave him the same chilling smile that she had given Alice and Jasper earlier.

"You know what you've done, Etienne," she told him. "It's a shame, really, that it had to end this way for you."

"I... I don't know what you--"

She slapped him and spat, "You act as if I'm ignorant! As if I am stupid! As if I wouldn't find out that you were planning to betray me with your brother!"

"Maria... no... it's not--"

She slapped him again.

Jasper could feel the guilt. The horror. It was almost overwhelming. He locked his finger with one of Alice's for support and she squeezed it.

Alice and Emmett both stared straight ahead, watching.

"Where is he?" she asked Etienne, her eyes burning with rage.

"I don't kn--"

"Where. Is. He," she asked, her tone menacing. Maria's true evil nature shined clearly now.

"I really don't know Maria I swear I don't know where he is!" he rambled, his eyes pleading with her now.

She shook her head and smiled again.

"Look at you," she whispered, trailing her fingers across his face. "So weak, now...."

The group watched in anticipation, waiting to see what her next move would be.

"Jasper," she called.

Surprise filled the air.

"Maria," he answered.

"Jazz, no," Alice whispered, begged, knowing what would happen....

"Come."

He suppressed a shudder at the order and squeezed Alice's finger tightly before moving to stand near Maria. He had to obey her. He didn't want her to hurt Alice.

"Jazz..." Alice whispered again, as Emmett put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"You will destroy Etienne," Maria told Jasper.

"Have Raoul do it. I refuse. This wasn't part of the plan," Jasper said stiffly.

He felt Raoul's interest in that statement.

"Raoul is too messy. I want you to do it…" she trailed off, coming closer to her, her eyes locked with his.

"I won't kill him for you," he stated clearly.

She brushed a finger across his chest. "C'mon Jasper. The man I knew so long ago would've jumped at the offer... would've done it with pride... I know he's still in there, somewhere...." she whispered, almost seductively.

His posture stiffened. He could feel her desire for him to be who she wanted. Her desire for him to kill Etienne. Her desire for him.

He met Alice's gold eyes, tinged with worry, and found what he needed there.

"No. The man you knew died a long time ago," he told her. "I won't kill him. He has done nothing to me."

Her scowl slowly turned into a smile. He didn't like the excitement that was starting to bubble and overflow her emotions.

"Well, if he's dead, then maybe I need someone to pick up his slack. Someone who would be willing to kill in order to keep that old Jasper dead..." her eyes scanned the room and she raised her eyebrows. "I could have Alice do it."

Jasper's head shot up to look at her. "No."

Maria's smile remained. "I think it would prove her loyalty to us quite nicely, actually. Don't you, Jasper?"

He was shaking his head. "She's not destroying him. She doesn't have to prove loyalty to you. She could get hurt."

It was almost exactly like how her vision had been. She felt that she had to prevent Raoul and Jasper from fighting. She _had _to.

"Stop," Alice interrupted sharply, suddenly next to Jasper, away from Emmett's protective hold.

Maria's eyebrows shot up, amused. "Yes?"

"I-I'll do it. Just leave Jasper alone," she said, trying to sound brave. Trying not to stammer. Trying to convince herself that she could kill Etienne.

She had killed before. Many, many times. But it had always been in defense of herself or someone she loved. She had never killed like this before. She had never killed for someone else's hatred.

"Alice, no--" Jasper started, but at Maria's nod, two others grabbed him to hold him back.

Alice gave Jasper a look, her eyes meeting his, silently promising that she wasn't doing this to help Maria... she was doing it so that he wouldn't have to kill that way again.

She took a deep breath and turned to face Etienne.

"Destroy him, Alice. I want him to suffer," Maria ordered.

She knew that Jasper could feel her fear spark. She looked at Etienne, met his cold, hard eyes. He wouldn't beg her. He knew it was no use.

And then suddenly, Etienne was no longer in front of her. And two seconds later, he was in pieces on the ground.

Aurelie.

She was now lighting a match and igniting what remained of Etienne.

Aurelie's eyes met Alice's for just a moment before looking to Maria.

"I owed him that for betraying us all. Forgive me if I overstepped my place," Aurelie stated, kneeling down in front of Maria. She kept her head down, but stretched her arms up in surrender to Maria, her scars accented in the lighting, showing her submission--her humility.

Maria let out what sounded like a disappointed groan and then threw her arms up.

"Get out of my sight. All of you."

She ended it just like that.

Like one of her followers had not just been ripped apart and set on fire in front of her.

Like she had not just been betrayed.

Like Alice had not just had to make one of the most frightening decisions of her life.

Like Jasper had not just had to watch his reason for being offer to put herself in his place so he wouldn't have to kill again....

Alice was convinced that, truly, Maria was insane.

Her obedient followers left right away. A few lingered, staring at the purple smoke that was drifting off of Etienne's ashes with an intrigued look in their eyes.

"Guess you were lucky today, Alice," Maria smirked. "Too bad. I was curious about what it would be like to taint someone as pure as you..." she trailed off as she neared Jasper. "Weren't you, Jazz?"

Jasper stayed entirely still, staring straight ahead, not acknowledging Maria.

She leaned in close to him and smiled. "There's still time. Keep trying to get those visions from her. We don't want to have to ask for Raoul's assistance, do we?"

Alice watched the storm of emotions swirling in Jasper's eyes as he fought to stay calm.

Maria winked and then flowed gracefully out of the room, Raoul on her heels.

Along with Jasper, Aurelie was entirely still. She remained kneeling, even after Maria left the room. No one approached her yet.

Alice couldn't help herself. She threw herself into Jasper's arms and he caught her, holding her tightly to him. A million questions and answers passed between them in that embrace.

Fear.  
_What were you thinking, Alice?_ I wanted to save you, Jasper.

Anger.  
_You've already saved me._ I didn't want you to kill anymore.

Confusion.  
_I don't want _you_ to kill. _I've killed before.

Sadness.  
_Not out of hatred. _I don't hate Etienne.

Love.  
_Maria's hatred._ I did it for love.

Love.  
What love? My love for you.

Love.  
_Me too. _Well, me too.

Worry.  
_I don't want her to ruin you like she ruined me._ You are _not_ ruined.

Sadness.  
_Not in your eyes. _Who else matters?

Realization.  
_No one else matters. _I'm so sorry.

Love.  
_I'm sorry. _I'm sorry.

Understanding.  
_I love you._ I love you.

They locked themselves in that embrace, neither wanting to let go.

Emmett took a breath and stood in front of Aurelie.

"Thank you," he said, for all of them.

Her head moved up slowly to look at him, as if she wasn't sure about what he was saying, and then she stood up quickly.

"Quoi?" _What?_

"I'm... thanking you," Emmett said slowly.

She shook her head, her eyes torn, and then sprinted out of the room.

One word echoed behind her.

"Don't."

* * *

_III.  
Trois [Three]  
I trust_

The next day, after Etienne's death, Jasper was showing Alice how to make her fighting moves flow better when Maria came in.

"Looking good, Alice. Maybe Jazzy here will actually let you come to New York with us. I hear you're still waiting for that permission," she commented, raising and amused eyebrow.

Alice felt Jasper's frustration toward Maria flare, but she stood next to Jasper confidently. She understood him and the reasons why he didn't want her to come. She knew that if she tried, she could probably convince him otherwise. But for right now, he needed to feel that she was safe.

"Can I do something for you, Maria?" she asked smoothly, not letting her get to her.

"Have you seen anything lately?"

"It's only been a day." And a long one, at that. She had waited for half of the day for something... _anything_... to come to her. But she couldn't see.

Maria searched Alice's face for a lie before she narrowed her eyes.

"I want to know where he is. And I want the answer soon."

She gave Jasper a look, and then she left them.

They didn't see Aurelie that day.

* * *

_IV._

_Quatre [Four]  
I deserve so much more  
I deserve so much more  
I deserve so much more  
I deserve so much more  
I deserve so much more_

Change was in the air.

Alice had been catching little snippets--flashes. But nothing was making sense. The only things that made sense were her visions about her family.

_"No, Nessie. That won't help them. We have to leave them alone," Edward said._

_"I hate when you read thoughts that you're not supposed to," Renesmee grumbled. "Check mate."_

_Carlisle, who was sitting across from her at the chess board, narrowed his eyes. "No that's not... oh."_

_She sighed, and Edward came closer to her._

_"They're okay. They're surviving. Jasper doesn't want us to get involved and we have to obey his wishes. He knows how they work and how our purpose will be best served. We must trust Jasper and obey his wishes," he told her softly, taking her into his lap like she was a little girl again._

_She leaned into him and looked over at Carlisle._

_"And you're sure there's nothing new?"_

_He nodded. "You know as well as I do from talking with Seth that they've all been paying attention. One of them would have heard if there was an update."_

_She nodded. She missed her two uncles and her aunt, and hoped that they would continue to be strong._

_But most of all, she missed her Jacob._

Alice snapped out of the vision and then groaned in frustration. She picked up a nearby rock and hurled it at a tree, putting a hole straight through it.

Jasper came up behind her and put his arms around her. "What is it?"

"I can't see Luc. I can't find him at all, Jazz. I keep seeing our family--they're safe--but Luc won't show up." She leaned back into him, trying to take in his essence to calm her down naturally.

"Keep trying, but don't overdo it or you'll miss something. We can keep Maria at bay a little while longer...."

She shook her head, trying to figure out what she was missing. _Something_ was coming though. She could feel it.

As for Jasper, he just wanted Alice to be safe again. He'd do anything to buy any extra time they might need.

He would do anything to protect his Alice.

* * *

_V.  
Cinq [Five]_  
_I'm ready.  
I'm ready.  
I'm ready._

Maria was getting frustrated.

"It's been days. Where is this vision? You're not looking hard enough!"

"I promise you, I am...." Alice insisted.

Maria wasn't playing games.

"Look harder, or I'm going to lose patience. And I might take that out on someone you care about. I have many options. Think about that."

She left.

_Esme screaming, crying over Carlisle's remains._

_Bella and Renesmee being taken to Maria... tortured._

_Raoul biting Renesmee, fascinated by what a half-breed would taste like--_

Alice jolted herself out of the visions. She gathered her thoughts together, made a decision, and then searched the future again.

Finding that her solution would work, she went outside to where Jasper had been talking with Emmett and Jacob.

Jasper felt the fear and panic immediately. He looked at her, sending her questioning, concerned vibes.

She shook her head, signifying that she didn't want to talk about it right now. Not in front of Jacob or Emmett.

"I had a vision. I saw Emmett going home... and then it all went blank." She looked at Jacob. "I think that means you went home, too."

"Why would we leave you guys though? It doesn't make sense," Emmett says.

"It's just what I saw. But I think it'll happen soon. You should go. The family needs you. And Nessie misses you both," she told them, half truthfully.

She felt Jasper watching her. He knew that she was lying, but he trusted her judgment.

"Yes. Go. We'll be fine," he said, answering the hesitation that he felt emanating strongly from both of them. "And thank you for everything you've done for us."

Emmett and Jacob exchanged glances.

"Why do I feel like you're not telling us something?" Emmett asked.

"I'm telling you all that I can... I promise...." Alice told him, suddenly wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him fiercely.

He nodded. "That's enough for me."

Jacob looked at them both and then nodded.

"I'll let them know we're coming home," he said as Alice gripped him now, too. "Don't worry, hun. We'll keep them safe," he vowed.

They left in a hurry, obeying Alice and Jasper's wishes.

When they had gone, Jasper turned to her as her emotions flooded him.

"Maria would've hurt our family, Jasper. With Em and Jake back, they'll have a chance because Jake won't ever leave and Emmett's strong and--"

"Shh, I know," he held her close, both of them supporting each other. "You did the right thing. I know."

She would do anything to protect those she loved.

* * *

_VI.  
Six [Six]  
Come whenever you would like  
__Come whenever you would like  
__Come whenever you would like_

It had been almost a week since Etienne's death, and they still hadn't associated with Aurelie much. Jasper and Alice had seen her around, but she ignored them.

Today, however, she couldn't.

"Maria wants you to come hunting for humans with me. No negotiations. Please don't make it difficult," Aurelie said stiffly to Alice.

Jasper felt the regret in Aurelie's emotions, which made him trust Aurelie at least a little, even if he couldn't trust Maria.

"I won't lure humans here and I won't kill them, so I don't see how my coming with you would benefit anyone," Alice told her politely.

Aurelie shrugged. "Then don't lure them here and don't kill any. Leave that to me. Just come to make her happy."

"I don't want to make her happy," Alice grumbled, almost stubbornly.

This made Jasper smile the first real smile since they had been there.

He leaned down and nuzzled her nose with his, feeling more confident and trusting after his smile.

"I don't want to make her happy, either. But I think that the best thing to do, other than getting her her vision, is to listen to her. This is something simple that we can do...." he reasoned, not seeing any way that Maria could have ulterior motives for Alice to spend time with Aurelie. He would feeling something in Aurelie that would give that away, and he didn't.

She looked into his eyes and nodded, knowing that he was right.

"Okay, Jazz. I'll go 'hunting,'" she agreed with a slight nod.

He closed his eyes, taking in the essence of her emotions. "I trust you, Alice. Stay alert."

She nodded again, leaning into him. "I'll see you later."

They didn't need kisses or I love yous. They knew.

* * *

_VII.  
Sept [Seven]  
After dark  
After dark  
After Dark  
After dark  
_

Aurelie didn't talk much as they sprinted away from the house. When they got close to a town, Aurelie slowed down and Alice followed suit.

"Alors... cava, Aurelie?" Alice tried, speaking French to make Aurelie feel more comfortable.

Aurelie eyed her and then shook her head. "Now you're making pleasantries with me in French? Why?"

She shrugged, deciding to be honest. "So you'll feel better about answering me."

Aurelie shook her head again. "It doesn't work that way."

"Then how _does_ it work? One moment you're trying to be friendly with me and the next you're being cold with me. I don't understand it," Alice said softly, not trying to anger Aurelie. She genuinely just wanted to figure Aurelie out.

Aurelie looked at Alice for a long time before answering her earlier question. "I'm all right. Thank you for asking."

Alice sighed and they kept walking, getting closer to the humans. Alice could smell their savory scent from here.

"I'm... I'm going to go in closer. I'll bring whatever I can snag back with me... this is the part you don't want to be a part of," Aurelie said suddenly, her whole stance alert now.

It made Alice nervous. She knew she didn't want to be a part of the hunting, but something in her told her Aurelie wasn't just talking about that.

"I'll wait right here, then," she told her.

With a simple nod, Aurelie quickly headed away.

Alice narrowed her brow and tried to make sense of Aurelie's sudden departure. Something didn't feel right.

* * *

_VIII.  
Huit [Eight]  
Lead her  
Lead her to me  
Lead her  
_

Without Jacob or Emmett around, Jasper had nothing left to do but wait for Alice to return from being with Aurelie. So he hunted, deciding it would be best to always be full--never be tempted.

Things had felt strange lately. Aurelie had been keeping to herself, and when he did see her, she was always feeling... down. He wondered if she felt bad for killing Etienne or if it was something else. Maybe Raoul had been trying to use her lately....

Raoul.

Every memory of Raoul that Jasper had of Raoul felt like jealousy. But not Jasper's--Raoul's. Raoul had never liked Maria's favoritism toward Jasper.

And Raoul had always been envious of Jasper and his gift.

One memory in particular lived on in his mind.

_Maria had just finished rewarding Jasper for his kills in a recent fight._

_The rewards had recently been starting to mean nothing to him, though. He did as he was told, did what he knew she liked, and reaped the benefits. But lately, no matter how hard he tried, he could feel nothing when he was with her anymore. It was like his body craved her for her beauty, but his mind knew better._

_Slowly... slowly... Jasper was controlling his body's desire for her. He didn't need her as much as he had before. He was starting to think that the only reason why he wanted her so badly sometimes was because that was all he had ever known and he was used to it._

_But most of the times he was with her now, he had been numb throughout the whole 'reward.' And today had been no different._

_Maria had been pleased, though. She promised him an extra human to feed on later--another thing his body craved, but his mind hated. The blood._

_Jasper had just been getting up to leave when Raoul stormed in._

_"Maria, it's time. Now," he stated, his emotions full of jealousy and anger. Jasper had never heard anyone speak to her like that._

_She sprung up, making sure her clothes were on the way she liked them, and then stood in front of him. "You hear of knocking? And you will not use that tone with your leader."_

_Instead of obeying her, or begging for forgiveness, he _slapped_ her._

_Jasper was on him in a mere second, his fingers at Raoul's throat, waiting for an order from Maria. If she wanted, he would kill him._

_Raoul just grinned up at Jasper. "She likes it rough. Now get off of me."_

_Jasper didn't move, still waiting for Maria to tell him what she wanted._

_"It's okay, Jasper. You can let him up," Maria said. Her emotions felt weird to him... there was pleasure, excitement, and regret. He didn't know how they applied to the current situation._

_Jasper let go of Raoul and stood, waiting for Maria to tell him what to do next._

_"Maria," Raoul said, his voice slightly threatening, "You promised. You _owe_ me."_

_Maria sighed and stepped forward, so that she was standing in front of Jasper._

_"Jasper, you have done nothing wrong this time. This is not a punishment," she started, "In fact-- you could even think of it as another reward. The fact that you can manipulate emotions is a gift to be proud of... and one that you should be proud to share, when asked."_

_"Excuse me?" he asked politely, his accent strong._

_She took his arm lightly in her own and held it, stroking his scarred skin. "You will let Raoul bite you. Right... here," she pointed to a place near his elbow. "It's one of the only spots that's still smooth...." she mused._

_He didn't understand. Why was she listening to Raoul? Why was she letting Raoul bite Jasper? Clearly, Raoul was a lot more spoiled than Jasper. Maria, for some reason, let Raoul do whatever he wanted. Why did he still feel so jealous of Jasper, then?_

_Jasper gathered together all of the numbness that he could and clung to it, sending it through his own body as Raoul neared._

_He braced himself, and then willingly let Raoul sink his teeth into his skin. He did it because Maria had told him to._

_The last emotion he felt before Raoul temporarily stole his gift was that of Raoul's own satisfaction. Raoul had won this battle._

Jasper was running his finger over that scar as one of Maria's followers entered the room.

"Maria wants for you to come see her, now," the woman said, staring at Jasper and his scars.

Jasper nodded and followed because he had no other choice. When Maria wanted something, she made sure she got it.

_

* * *

IX.  
Neuf [Nine]  
I hope  
I hope  
I Hope  
I hope  
Hope  
_

And, as it sometimes happened to Jasper and Alice-- the one soul in two beings-- their lives managed to be running parallel to each others now, even though they were not physically together.

"Well, hello. Fancy seeing you here," Raoul commented, looking over Alice.  
"Jasper, hello. Please... come closer," Maria said, her eyes scanning Jasper.

_I'm okay right here. I'm just waiting for Aurelie. I'm okay... _Alice thought, knowing she was lying to herself.  
"I'm okay right here," he said, knowing Maria wouldn't let him be for long.

"Yes... why pretend this is a coincidence when we both know it's not?" Raoul chuckled, coming closer to her.  
Alice stood her ground. Waiting. Tense. Ready.

Maria laughed and came closer, so that she was standing in front of Jasper.  
Jasper stood his ground. Waiting. Tense. Ready.

Raoul put his hands on her hips, holding her steady.  
Her eyes flashed and she slipped out of his grip. "Don't touch me."

Maria licked her lips and came closer to him, the scent of her hair bringing him back to how they had been.  
He took a step back, his hands trembling as memories coursed through his mind. "Don't touch me."

Raoul put his hands up innocently. "Okay. But you're going to make it really difficult for me to get what I want."  
She narrowed her eyes, blocking out any visions that might distract her when she needed to be alert. "What do you want?"

Maria smiled, "No touching? Jasper, we're old friends. You can trust me, now."  
He laughed bitterly. "I can trust you, _now._ Right. Maria, what do you want?"

"I just want you and your dear Jasper to be happy," he stated simply, his eyes gleaming.  
"Jasper and I _are_ happy. Consider your want fulfilled," she stated, turning away from him. She wanted to find Aurelie....

"Nothing you aren't able to give me. No worries, my dear friend." She moved so that their faces were centimeters apart. He could feel her breath across his lips as she said, "I want you to be happy. Does Alice make you happy?"  
"Alice and I _are _happy. Consider your want fulfilled," he said, breathing in the too familiar scent of lust and persuasion.

He grabbed her arm and twisted her back toward him, pulling her so that she was pressed against him. She wiggled in his grasp, but he was too strong.  
"What are you doing?" Alice demanded, anger flaring. "I said not to touch me."

"Prove it. If you two are so happy, then why is she out with Aurelie and Raoul right now and not here, preventing you from being alone with me?" Maria whispered onto his neck. She breathed out and then moved to press her lips to his neck.  
His body repelled hers like opposite sides of a magnet the instant that her lips were on him. The lust disgusted him. The wet venom on his neck made all of the scars throughout his body tingle uncomfortably. And the fact that he hadn't realized what was going on until now horrified him. How had he been so careless? How could he have let his guard down? Let Alice out of his sight, after everything they had done to her? "I will find her," he said, menacingly. Maria chuckled as he darted out the door, trying to notice Alice's scent or emotions.

"You did say that, didn't you? But Alice, you must understand, I _have_ to touch you. Maria wants Luc, and you are the only one who knows where he is. And she's tired of waiting, so... that's where I come in. You've been through this with me before. It's no big deal, right? The thing is..." he moved her so that both of her wrists were engulfed by one of his hands, "Maria never specified _where_ I had to touch you. Just that I must acquire your visions so that I could find Luc for her," he smirked, his other hand trailing down the side of her body.  
"I...I will find him," she said, trying to stay calm, despite the situation. "Luc. I can find him without your help."

"Jasper!" Maria called after a moment.  
But he was already gone.

Raoul leaned in, taking a deep breath of her as his fingers slipped under her shirt and trailed lightly over her stomach. "You smell even better, now that I know what I can get from you. And your skin is so smooth...."  
But she was already gone, her eyes squeezed shut as a vision rocketed through her. Suddenly, it all made sense.

_Central Park._

Alice felt nails, sharp nails, raking across her stomach. She felt herself falling to the floor. It didn't hurt... but she was aware of it. It brought her out of the vision.

He stood over them, his rage overtaking all senses as he slammed Raoul against the ground, away from Alice, catching him off guard. Jasper had come out of nowhere.

"Central Park," she whispered, drifting in and out of the vision, trying to keep it, to memorize the details.  
"What did you say?" a female voice asked. Maria had apparently followed as closely behind Jasper as she could, and now appeared with them.

Jasper continued to hold Raoul down, trying desperately not to let his rage seep into Raoul's emotions. He knew that if he did, Raoul might overcome him.  
But then again, with the amount of rage he was feeling right now, he wasn't so sure.

"He's in Central Park," Alice whispered, her eyes still blank as she replayed her vision over and over again.  
Maria's eyes flashed with excitement. She came close to Alice and reached to lightly brush Alice's bangs out of her face so she could stare into Alice's empty eyes.

Jasper was distracted by Maria being so close to Alice. Touching her. Staring at her so intently.  
Raoul used this to his advantage and flipped them so that he was now on top of Jasper.

"Oh, Alice. Dear, dear, Alice. I knew you'd help us," Maria said, a strange look in her eyes. She kissed Alice's forehead and then turned to where Raoul and Jasper were. "Boys. Cut it out."

Jasper was fuming. He wrestled with Raoul, everything fiber in his being wanting to kill him. To make him suffer. _No one_ touched Alice that way. No one would make her feel how Maria had made Jasper feel. They may have captured her, hurt her, and used her for her visions... but he would rip them apart if they tried to take her visions from her _or _'reward' her for giving them what they wanted.

"Jasper."

He turned his head quickly to Alice, and Maria used this as a way to get Raoul away from Jasper.

"Enough. We have our vision. We're leaving in an hour," Maria ordered.

Jasper rushed over to Alice, still wanting to destroy Raoul, but more concerned about making sure Alice was okay, first.

"What is it, darlin'? What'd he do to you?"

She shook her head. Her eyes, now full of their usual love for him, met his. He could feel her thanking him and trying to calm him down.

Jasper took a breath as they joined hands. "What'd you see?"

Maria and Raoul listened in, interestedly, as Alice explained.

* * *

_X. Dix [Ten]  
Central Park._

"I had been seeing glimpses, but I couldn't make sense of them. He hadn't made the decision yet. But now he's certain. Luc... he... he wrote me a letter," she said, gripping Jasper's hands tightly as she revisited the vision that had put all of the pieces together.  
_  
My dear,_

_My brother has told me all about your gift. I'm writing every single letter intentionally, knowing this.... I planned it for a while, hoping you'd catch it. That's right.  
I know you are watching. Don't wonder how. Just know that I welcome your visit._

_I trust that Etienne is gone by now. You've seen him. You turned him in to her. I suppose I might have done the same, in your position. She scared you into it._

_She does that. She likes scaring people into things. It's a power trip-- another reason why I had to leave. I'm so much better than that. I deserve so much more for myself._

_I digress. I am writing this to tell you that I'm ready. Come whenever you would like._

_After dark. I'll be waiting for you to find me. Lead her to me. I hope and trust that you are good enough people to do that for me.  
_

_I'll be at Central Park._

_Luc_

* * *

**Author's Note: Once again, I'm so so sorry for the wait. Real life was just insane....**

**I tried a different style this chapter... tried to make things move quickly, but still let you know what's going on. Did you like it? Hate it? Still loving constructive criticism/tips/anything you want to offer =).  
**

**In case you missed it before, a link to a character collage from _Frayed_ is on my author profile now. Here it is again: http://i35[dot]tinypic[dot]com/2heeixx[dot]jpg ... just replace the "[dot]s" with "." and you're set! Take a look and let me know what you think of them! **

**Once again, all feedback is appreciated ;). Especially if you're still with me after the crazy long wait....**

**Happy Holidays! Please Review!  
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	14. The Two Definitions of 'Mad'

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything you recognize in this amazing Twilight universe.**

**Thank you for feedback on the last chapter! I know it was long. And different. I appreciate all of your reviews!**

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_"Weapons of war, symptoms of madness.... Don't let your eyes refuse to see, don't let your ears refuse to hear.... And I could hold you in my arms... I could hold on forever." _--Ray Lamontagne

Seeing Raoul looking at Alice that way had thrown Jasper into a fury. It was the second time he had felt that angry in such a recent time. The first was when he had seen what they had done to her when they were keeping her here to lure him in.

"An hour to hunt, and then we're leaving," Maria ordered again before whisking herself away to prepare for the trip.

Jasper knew the route well. He had helped plan it. They would travel through Texas to Arkansas and Tennessee. They'd wait in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee during the day, and then continue into Kentucky, West Virginia, and eastern Pennsylvania. They'd wait again in Philadelphia, and then move up to New York City.

He found it ironic that they were waiting in two locations that meant something to his family. Emmett had been from Tennessee, and he and Alice had met in Philadelphia. He wondered if he had subconsciously planned around those two places because they felt safer to him.

Letting out a breath, he looked around. The two of them had ended up in the woods shortly after Maria's order, getting ready to hunt before the trip.

Jasper looked over at Alice now as her emotions faded in and out, distinct to muffled, over and over again.

"Anything new?" he asked aloud.

She shook her head, her eyes focusing on him. "Same vision. The letter."

He suppressed the rage that was starting to build in him again. "Raoul... did he...."

She was in front of him in a mere second, her arms wrapping around his waist as she peered up at him.

"He didn't hurt me, Jazz. Promise," she whispered, waves of contentment flowing off of her.

That was all he needed to hear. He latched on to her tranquility and held it in, reveling in it.

Using Alice's calmness, they hunted in the forest, feeding until their eyes shone with golden hues.

"What do you think is going on with Aurelie?" Alice asked him later, as they slowly made their way back to the house. To Maria.

Jasper hoped it would be the last time that they would be going back to her. He wanted to go home to Carlisle's wisdom and Esme's warmth. It was the first time that he found himself craving the company of Emmett, Rosalie, Edward, Bella, Renesmee, Jacob, Seth... all of the wolves.

He knew that all he needed was Alice and he would be eternally happy... but he did miss the Cullens. They were family. His and Alice's family. And he knew that Alice missed them, too.

He shrugged. "Aurelie... she's complicated. Broken. I don't think she's ever been whole.... She wanted to be. With Raoul. When that didn't work out, I think she gave up on it and threw her life into serving Maria," he thought out loud, disgusted by Aurelie's choice.

"That's so sad... to always be broken...." Alice pondered. She tried to see what the future held for Aurelie, but couldn't see that far. All that she could see was a glimpse of Aurelie and Raoul in New York.

Jasper nodded. "It is. But maybe her mate just hasn't been created yet," he said, remembering the time in his life when he was broken. Empty. Not whole. He hadn't known it then, but he had been like that because Alice hadn't been born yet--as a human or as a vampire.

Alice smiled sadly, sensing what he was reflecting on. "I have hope for her," she said quietly.

He met her eyes and nodded, taking in her uplifting emotions and smiling. "Then so do I."

She changed the subject as they got closer to the house.

"Do you know Luc?" Alice asked him.

Jazz shook his head. "Not really. He had been around, but so were many others. Other than Peter, I didn't really make friends...."

She nodded. "I guess Etienne told him everything he could about me. About us. That's why Luc wrote the letter."

"So you had been seeing flashes of the letter, then?" Jasper wanted to confirm. He wanted to make sure they understood what they were walking into.

"Uh huh. For days. Sometimes just single words... probably words and phrases that he was concentrating on most. But then they'd form into a sentence. I didn't know what it meant until it all came together later... I guess I couldn't see the whole thing until he had finished it and wanted me to," she reasoned. "Luc seems to want to like us."

"While he'd prefer to communicate with us over Maria, I'm not sure that he likes us. We killed his brother," Jasper told her, his frustration picking up a bit. He was nervous about what would happen in New York. No matter what, his goal was to protect Alice and to make sure that she was not harmed while they were there.

Alice wrinkled her brow. "We didn't kill him."

"We instigated his death. We did our part," Jasper said stiffly. "That's the reality of it."

Alice came closer and stared up at him, sensing his tension, but not being offended by his rough tone. "What's bothering you, Jazz?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I didn't... want it to go this far. I don't want you to kill with them."

They walked at human pace now. She smiled sadly. "I'm not killing anyone. What kind of person would I be if I let you go off with Maria alone?" she shook her head. "I don't want you to have to be alone with her and people who think like her. Not again...." she admitted, stealing a glance at him.

He took an unnecessary deep breath. "If you let me go off with her alone, you'd be the type of person who realizes how... _scared_ I am to have you there with me. I know that I can come out of it okay... I have before...."

He looked over at her to emphasize his next words. "I don't want them to taint you or try to change you. It's something they'd do if they wanted you badly enough and that thought terrifies me," he admitted, his voice low now.

She took in a sharp breath and he felt her emotions shift into painful realization as she understood what he was saying.

"Jasper..." she started, "They would never taint me or change me. No matter what, I'm _yours_. I would never... _ever_... let them take me from you. Or let them take you from me. We belong together, out of that world...."

He nodded. "I know," he agreed, their fingers brushing each others in comfort. "I know that. I just... I'm ready to do anything necessary to keep us both out of that world... but if it came down to it, then I'd do anything to keep _you_ out of that world...." he told her, knowing that her response would be one of anger.

He felt the anger, but she subdued it, controlled it, before speaking.

"I'm never leaving you, Jazz. And right now, think of me coming along to keep you company," she said, somewhat stubbornly, though he knew she was trying hard to be serious.

"Like I got to come along with you to Italy?" he retorted, not able to help himself, giving her a look.

"That was different and you know it," she said quietly. "The Volturi and Maria are two different things."

He knew he could easily point out that she was saying that Maria wasn't as dangerous--and then use that to back up his argument that Alice not come with him.

But despite his concern, he did _not_ want to be apart from her again. They had promised each other, after she had come back from Italy, that neither of them would do anything like that again. They vowed that they would fight together, travel together, live together, and--if fate called for it-- die together.

"I just want this to be over," he conceded finally, pulling her close to him.

"Soon," she said, nuzzling into him. "I've seen it."

They made their way back to Maria in silence. As they approached the house, the crowd that was coming with them was gathered, waiting for them.

Jasper felt Alice's hesitation, but kept her moving, knowing that an abrupt stop would cause for suspicion. They did not need Maria to be wary of them now.

"All finished hunting?" Maria inquired, staring tauntingly, her red eyes meeting Jasper's gold ones.

"Yes," he answered shortly and clearly.

"Good. We've been waiting. You're lucky I like you," she winked. "Let's go!"

And with that announcement, they were off, whipping through the woods effortlessly.

Alice looked over at Jasper as they ran. She glanced at Maria and then back at Jasper, her emotions confused as she mouthed "_Insane?"_

He would've laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. Maria's emotions were swirling with a ton of emotions that he wasn't even going to try to process. The one thing he could determine from her though was that she was ruthless and bloodthirsty. This entertained her. She was ready for a fight with Luc-- if she had adrenaline, it would be pumping right now.

Jasper merely nodded at Alice, confirming her thoughts. _More than you could know._

She cocked an eyebrow, amused, and he shook his head at the way she tried to joke with him about her human life in the insane asylum. He hadn't meant to draw on that comparison, but he was glad that it had lightened the mood a bit.

They ran until they made it into the mountains of Tennessee. The group then settled for the day, some going off to explore while others simply sat or stood around, waiting.

"Seven P.M. we'll start again," Maria ordered. "Be ready."

Jasper and Alice found a shady corner and sat together, leaning against a wall of the mountain. They wrapped themselves in a protective blanket of emotions, held together with more than just a thread of hope. When covered by this blanket, nothing could come between them.

A few hours later, Maria summoned Jasper to confirm their travel route to Philadelphia. Alice could feel his reluctance to leave her, but she nodded encouragingly. "I'll wait for you here," she promised.

They exchanged a look and then he slipped out of the comfort of their blanket, going to see what Maria wanted.

As Jasper walked away, Raoul and Aurelie walked toward Alice.

"How is it going, ma cherie?" Raoul trilled, his French accent decorating his words.

"Just fine, thank you," she answered, standing now, stepping out of the shade and looking casually toward the direction Jasper had gone. Raoul made her wary.

"Enjoying the scenery?" he inquired.

She shrugged, a human-like gesture.

Raoul didn't seem to think it was cute. She watched his face just barely twitch.

"See anything new?" Raoul demanded from her.

She was annoyed by his attitude, now.

"No," she said simply, controlling her emotions.

"Liar," he growled, coming closer. "I asked you if you had seen anything new."

"Raoul--" Aurelie started, reaching her hand out, but he flung it away from him. "You stay out of this," he hissed.

Alice really hadn't seen anything new.

"And I answered you and said that I had not," she replied sharply, her eyes flashing.

It all happened very fast, then.

_"I'llseeformyselfthen," _Raoul growled before he was jumping at her, his teeth reflecting the light of the sun, casting rainbow prisms against her own sparkling cheek.

Before his teeth could pierce her skin, he was in the air. A split second later, he and Jasper were a heap on the ground.

"_Stop_!" Alice screamed. She caught Aurelie's eye for the briefest of moments, the pure fear in Alice's eyes shining evidently.

She watched as Raoul and Jasper took turns pinning each other, snarling and snapping as they fought, no words being exchanged.

Alice's eyes went blank for a split second, and then they widened before she lunged herself at the two of them, trying to break it up.

Aurelie couldn't just stand there. She jumped in, too.

Alice and Aurelie tried to separate them, but Raoul and Jasper just kept moving away from them.

_Jasper. _Alice thought as she kept trying to break up their fight. _JasperPleasePleaseStop._

She hoped that he'd feel her concern and calm down, but he was too lost in the fight to pay attention to the climate around him.

Raoul had made a move to bite Alice --_randomly_-- she thought, since she hadn't seen it in a vision. And this was Jasper protecting her from that, though she had been ready to defend herself.

Alice noticed Raoul switch directions, and suddenly, again, he was flying through the air at her, teeth bared.

But Jasper forcefully shoved her out of the way, taking Alice's place just as Raoul's teeth sliced through the skin on Jasper's shoulder, near his neck.

Raoul clamped down, attaching himself to Jasper's shoulder, pouring his venom in before smoothly sucking it out again--taking Jasper's gift with him.

"No!" Alice shouted. She snarled and jumped on Raoul as he was pulling away from Jasper. She tightened her arms around his neck, but as soon as her skin made contact with his, she felt an overwhelming wave of lust shoot through her.

She froze and then jumped off of him as if she had been burned, while he chuckled.

Aurelie's eyes were downcast, as if she wasn't sure what to do. Jasper was on the ground on his knees, and Alice was now just feet away from her Jasper.

"What? Didn't like that?" Raoul asked softly, his voice deep and gravelly. "Because I can make you like it...."

She was next to Jasper in a heartbeat, trying to block out what Raoul was projecting. It struck her that Raoul had now stolen Jasper's gift with his bite. And it was her fault.

That thought stung like nothing else. Raoul would've bitten her, but Jasper had taken the bite instead....

"Raoul," Maria's voice echoed off of the walls of the mountain.

Raoul growled and then turned to look at her.

"I thought I asked you to tone it down. Leave them alone, now... I need them ready to move in a few hours," she told him, but her eyes were just as amused as Raoul's.

Raoul smirked. He gave Alice a look and one more shot of lust before wordlessly joining Maria.

Aurelie was shaking her head, as if she wasn't sure what to do now. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't kn-know... I didn't know...." she whispered, before running off.

Alice squeezed her eyes shut and crouched down to where Jasper squatted on his knees.

"Jazz," Alice whispered. She reached up and ran her small white fingers over the harsh red scar that Raoul had left between Jasper's shoulder and neck.

He winced at her touch, but didn't cringe away from her.

"I'm sor--" she started to apologize, but he put a finger to her lips.

Neither of them said anything. She wasn't used to him not being able to show her how he was feeling. She knew she could still check the future for what he would do next, but she wanted to just live in the moment with him now.

She came closer and rested her knees on top of his. She pressed her forehead against his and closed her eyes, taking a breath of him.

Alice felt Jasper do the same, breathing her in as he slowly ran his fingers down her arms.

"I can still feel you," he whispered, his voice quiet, but steady.

She narrowed her brow, puzzled, and opened her eyes to meet his.

He nodded, answering her silent question. He could read her emotions in her face.

Her eyes told him she was afraid. The way that her eyebrows pointed told him that she was concerned.

Her mouth told him that she was sorry, even if he didn't want to hear it. And the way that her body was leaning into him told him that, once again, she was worried about what had happened.

She wanted him to be okay. She needed him to stand and slowly start moving again. She loved him. And he could feel all of that through just being with her and looking at her.

"You did it again... trying to protect me...." she tried to scold him as she melted into his arms. She was upset that he had let himself get another bite at her expense. She didn't want him hurting. And she was somewhat relieved that he couldn't feel her guilt....

"It's fine. I barely...." He wanted to say that he barely felt it, but he wouldn't lie to Alice.

She very lightly let her lips graze the fresh scar, but it still sent a cool wave through his body, comforting him.

Jasper and Alice stayed like that, wrapped in each other, protecting each other, their blanket of emotions now a sheet, as they waited to be told that they were moving on to Philadelphia. To the place where they had started.

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**Author's Note: I feel like a broken record. School's busy. Life's busy. I'm hoping to try to update once a month.... *crosses fingers*  
Story is slowly coming to a close... answers will be revealed...!  
Hate? Like? Love? Indifferent? Throw some words at me--Please Review!  
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	15. Manipulation

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything you recognize in this amazing Twilight universe.**

**If any of you are still following this story and remember what's going on... here's an update to let you know that I do intend on completing this one day ;).  


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_"I knew no vices and I knew no sins... I knew the words, but they didn't sink in..."_ -Johnny Flynn

Philadelphia.

The city of art museums and graffiti.

The city of history: of the country and of Alice and Jasper.

The city of brotherly love.

Maria liked the city of brotherly love, because she said it was easy to find humans and make their deaths look like an accident: like some sort of gang thing or a drug deal gone wrong.

Alice and Jasper listened to her, but neither of them agreed with her words. To them, Philadelphia was Hope. It was where their lives had truly started. Before Philly, they had been alone. Wanderers. Always searching for something better, but never knowing when or if it would come.

And then they both wandered themselves into a small diner one day... and the rest was history.

Now the two of them sat at a table in their diner, years and years later, occasionally stirring cups of coffee that would never be sipped and picking at muffins that would never be consumed.

"Are you getting anything?" Jasper asked, his tone clipped with annoyance. Not at Alice, but at the fact that he couldn't sense anything when she slipped into her visions.

Her face and eyes would go blank, her body would tense so slightly that only a vampire's eyes would notice, and she'd stop breathing. That was all he could sense, though. He didn't know how the visions made her feel until after she had come out of them and he hated it. He felt... sort of helpless, without his extra sense.

She shook her head, coming out of the latest vision. "Sometimes we're in New York. There's a fight, but I'm hearing it, not part of it," she explained, her tone confused. "I'm not involved."

He couldn't help but be relieved by that. He was nervous enough that she was involved this much already. If she didn't fight, then that was good.

"You said sometimes..." he hinted, wondering what else she had seen.

She nodded. "Yeah... when I'm not seeing that, it's dark."

Her amber eyes met his as they both thought about what that could mean.

Death or Werewolves.

"You haven't seen what's going on in Forks?"

"No," she replied softly. "It's dark there, too. The wolves are heavily involved with something. I'm hoping they've just been around to protect the family." She paused. "You don't think..."

He shook his head, following her thoughts. "Jacob would never let Nessie get involved in something like this."

"Nessie tends to involve herself in things that she shouldn't, though," Alice pointed out. "She's as stubborn as Bella was and deep down, I think she feels as if she has something to prove," she admitted.

Jasper nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. He sometimes sensed a bit of unease in her when Jacob and the pack would tell her stories about their adventures protecting Bella. She enjoyed the stories, but he sometimes felt as if she was still waiting for her adventure to begin-despite who her family was.

The two sat in silence for a few moments, thinking about their family... about how the diner had been their first big step to finding the Cullens.

After a while, Jasper, who had been holding his breath since they had entered the diner, finally had to take in another one so that he could speak.

The scent of human blood filled his body and he tried to clear his head by holding onto Alice's essence. It was a lot harder now, though, not being able to feel her emotions.

He swallowed the venom that had filled his throat and quickly took her hand, gripping it tightly to keep himself at the table with her.

She held on just as tightly. With her other hand, she brushed his hair from his face, trailing her hand down his cheek, his nose, and to his lips, trying to calm him. He focused on the feel of her touching him, of how good she smelled. He tried to convince himself that Alice's scent was stronger than that of the blood around him.

And then a new thought struck him: he wouldn't be able to feel the humans. He couldn't taste their emotions right now and therefore couldn't experience their feelings as he sucked the life out of them through his favorite pulsing vein in their necks...

"We have to go," he hissed, and Alice's grip on his hand almost broke through it.

Swiftly, she threw a few bills on the table, got up, and walked out with him. She slid her arm around his waist, almost guiding him out. There were no words exchanged, no questions asked; she knew what was happening to him. They walked out hand in hand, just like they had so long ago.

He didn't breathe, didn't speak, didn't think about anything other than Alice. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, concentrating on how she moved, blinked, breathed. He tried to mimic her movements: stepping with her, blinking when she blinked. The only thing he didn't do was breathe.

His Alice never lost herself the way he seemed to lose himself sometimes. Even now, knowing he was on the brink of massacring the whole diner, she had kept her composure, her human facade. Only he could see her slightly tense posture. The worry. He knew she was worried. That, he didn't have to feel to understand.

They kept to the shadows, dodging their way through the maze that was Philadelphia until they made their way out and to a more isolated area.

"Breathe," Alice murmured, and he did. The fresh air cleared the lingering scent of the humans from his nose, filtering it out until all he could smell was dirt, trees, grass, animals and them.

She watched his body relax until he collapsed to the ground. "You'll be okay now, Jazz," she said quietly, her voice hauntingly smooth, "I see it," she whispered.

He trusted her vision, even though they both knew that what she saw wasn't always the pure truth. He knew that what she was seeing was based on his own choices, though: he had decided not to drink from a human and was now even thinking about finding a small animal, just in case.

He started to let his guilty thoughts take over, realizing what had almost just happened. He could have blown everything right then and there. Alice and he might have been able to cover something like that if it was just the two of them, but it wasn't. Not this time. This time, it was the two of them and Maria and her army. He couldn't afford to mess things up. Not now. He could not be weak right now!

Alice landed in his lap. She wrapped her legs around his waist and simply held him, her closeness engulfing him, soothing his worries.

After a few moments, she leaned to whisper in his ear.

"Maria's going to find us. Soon. Raoul's with her. Don't let go of my hand, no matter what."

He sensed the urgency in her words and nodded a silent promise as his hand slid up to find hers.

She folded her fingers with his and closed her eyes.

Jasper stayed alert, listening... waiting...

Minutes later, he could hear twigs cracking at a speed that was definitely not human. Seconds later, he could smell them. The musky cinnamon of Maria and the sickly sweet-even to a vampire- scent of Raoul.

Alice drifted in and out of visions, trying to see if anything had changed. Jasper could feel her muscles tense against him as she dove in and out of the future, trying to find answers.

_"You've never bowed down before, Jasper," Maria sneered. "I thought I was your leader, not your Queen. Isn't _she_ your queen now?" she taunted, motioning toward Alice._

Alice snapped back to the present with a breath and quickly stood up, pulling Jasper with her, but never letting go of his hand. She didn't want Maria to start anything more than was already going to be played out. It was getting more definite by the second.

"We've been on your trail now for a while," Raoul announced as they appeared out of the trees. His eyes were bright red.

Maria laughed, in high spirits after feeding, as she came behind him. "You took quite the scenic route. Revisiting all of your favorite spots?"

Jasper shook his head. "Just trying to hunt before we move on."

"Mmm," Maria acknowledged, raising an eyebrow. "So when does Miss Alice here see that happening?" she asked, moving closer to them, her dark locks sweeping across her face. Raoul followed her.

"Soon," Alice answered, her voice certain. "It will rain. We'll move once it starts. The light will be dim enough to hide us."

Maria smiled, pleased at such a direct answer. "Excellent. What else did you see?"

Alice shifted closer to Jasper and he squeezed her hand lightly, giving any reassurance she may need from him.

"Nothing solid enough to say quite yet," Alice answered, blinking away another vision. "The rain is definite, but there are too many choices... decisions that haven't been made yet..." She worked to explain herself as Maria's lip curled slightly.

Jasper felt a pang of annoyance and looked over at Raoul. The annoyance was absolutely coming from him... from the emotions he had temporarily stolen from Jasper.

And then he felt... indifference. Apathy. Like what was happening right now wasn't too big of a deal.

Maria stopped questioning Alice and directed her attention to Jasper. "Tell me the plan again, Jasper," she ordered him, her deep red eyes sparkling with excitement.

As he did, he noticed Raoul coming closer to Alice. Even though his mind was screaming at him to be alert, to defend Alice if necessary, he couldn't convince himself to take the thoughts seriously.

_He didn't care._ And it was because of Raoul manipulating him. He knew it and it enraged his thoughts- but he felt no need to act on them.

Alice tensed as Raoul got closer. She had seen this coming. This wasn't a surprise. But still, she hated that it was going to happen.

"Tell me honestly, _ma petite_... you absolutely loathe me, no?" Raoul murmured into her ear while playing with her emotions.

She felt that he was trying to make her as calm and comfortable with him as possible and she hated that it was working.

"I do," she told him, as seriously as she could with the way that he was making her feel.

He ran his fingers up her arm, intensifying the feeling of desire that she could feel burning in her stomach, now.

Alice and Jasper's hands were in a death grip as Maria went over strategy with Jasper.

Raoul smiled, "That's what makes this such a fun power to steal. You hate me, but you _want_ me..." he whispered, his lips touching her ear.

She had seen this. It would all be okay. She had seen herself resisting him and yet...

She squeezed her eyes shut and suppressed a moan of delight as his lips landed again near her temple, giving her body more of what he was making her desire. She hated him _so_ much in that moment.

And Jasper wasn't helping her. Just as she had seen, he was letting them alone. But he kept his promise... he didn't let go of her hand.

"Tell me more about _my_ future," Raoul whispered, his voice husky, "And I'll give you what you want."

What she wanted? What _did_ she want? Not him. She did not want him. But she wanted what he was making her feel...

_I do not want him,_ she thought to herself._ But he says he'll give me what I do want..._

"I want you to stop manipulating our emotions," she forced herself to tell him. She glanced over at Jasper's blank expression. "_Both_ of us."

He smirked. "Oh, but it's such fun!" He shrugged, "But. If that's what you _really_ want... consider it done. In exchange for my future, _mon petit caissier de fortune..._" His little fortune teller.

She jumped into her visions before he could do anything more, and looked for Raoul:

_Raoul leading Maria's army._

_Raoul in bed with Maria..._

_Raoul biting Aurelie... again._

_Raoul with Maria's head in his hands, a look of triumph on his face._

_Maria with _Raoul's_ head in her hands..._

None seemed more definite than another. They were all fuzzy. Possibilities.

As she came out of the vision, she felt her body's attraction to Raoul become overwhelming.

Her hand loosened from Jasper's so that they were merely hanging onto each other by a finger.

Raoul's rough hands caressed her face as she concentrated on keeping her breathing in check. "Tell me my future and I'll give you what you want."

She wanted... she wanted...

"Many possibilities," she managed to get out, thinking very hard about what she had seen and how to express it and trying to ignore how he was making her feel. "But most are you and Maria together. Ruling over things. Sometimes you go to bite Aurelie, but mainly you're with Maria. Happy ending..." she trailed off, choosing not to tell him about the part where he may or may not have been killed by Maria...

Raoul smirked and leaned in closer, his breath mixing with hers. "Thanks, love." And with that, he took her lips in his and released all emotional hold over her at the same time.

A half a second later, not only was her hand fully engulfed by Jasper's again, but the two were both feet away from Maria and Raoul, entirely themselves again.

Alice was ashamed that she hadn't been able to pull away from him quicker and Jasper was enraged that Raoul had pulled a stunt like that. Trying to corrupt Alice's body while making Jasper's apathetic to it was _not_ his idea of a good time.

"What kind of game is this, Maria?" Jasper demanded, trying to control himself. "What happened to respecting rules during a mission? We're on our way into battle and the two of you are toying with our emotions...!" The whole time, his thoughts had been screaming at him to _do something._ He brain knew that he should be ripping Raoul's throat out for touching Alice, and yet, he couldn't motivate himself to act on those thoughts. Apathy was the worst thing to feel, in his opinion. He would rather be enraged or in pain or burning all over than feel nothing at all.

Maria chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Since when have I played by the rules, Jasper?" Her eyes narrowed. "I do what I want and I get what I want. Those are the only rules I have."

She smirked at Raoul and then looked to Jasper and Alice again. "Alice says it will rain. I can feel it in the air. We'll leave in twenty eight minutes exactly. Be ready to move then."

And with that, the two left without a word.

"Jazz, that was so... messed up," Alice whispered, leaning into him. "Thank you for not letting go of my hand." It had been her source of strength in resisting Raoul, she knew.

"I'm sor-" he started, but she jumped up and caught his lips in hers.

Their lips molded with a familiar sense of home. They tasted honey and flowers and rain and warmth as their mouths begged each other for forgiveness because of Raoul. Alice's lips pleaded that he would forgive how her body had felt toward Raoul while Jasper's pleaded that she would forgive him for not saving her from him.

She ran her soft, smooth hands over his arms, feeling over every scar that she already knew was there.

He weaved his fingers through her hair tenderly, relaxed by the feeling of love that she still engulfed him in, even without his ability to sense the actual emotions.

Silently, their lips mended all wounds.

When their mouths finally parted, they stared into the identical look in each other's eyes.

They were heading into battle shortly. There were gaps in Alice's visions that made them both uncomfortable. And they had both just been manipulated by Raoul and Maria.

Yet despite all of that, they were together. And knowing that they would remain together is what kept the Hope in their eyes.

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**I can't predict my updates anymore, but if you're still with me: thank you! I appreciate all of the reviews and encouragement to continue writing. I hope to be able to update again in the near future. Sorry for the lack of predictability! =)**


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